This highly detailed image was taken by Curiosity rover’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on September 8, 2012. On that day, which happened to be Curiosity’s 33rd day on Mars, its MAHLI dust cover was finally retracted and picture of the surface was taken. This patch of dusty Maritan ground is only about 34 inches across and the one large pebble,  near the bottom of the image, is about 3 inches in size. That area seems more pebbly than dusty leaving scientists to ponder the composition of the Martian surface, its wind patterns, etc.