Curiosity Finds Clear Evidence for Water on Ancient Mars

Wavy textures in rocks studied by the rover curiosity belonging POT suggest existence in the past lakes in the area of ​​the old Mars which scientists expected on dry land.

curiositywho got into Mars in 2012 he is currently exploring a unique feature known as the “Marker Strip” in the foothills of Mount Sharp.

Strong evidence for the existence of lakes

The rocks of this area are the clearest evidence of the existence waves mission ever seen: wavy textures formed billions of years ago when waves from the surface of a shallow lake, sediments are removed from the bottom of the lake. lake.

Above the mountain curiosity You can see more evidence of ancient water: wet landslides caused rocks and other debris to slide down the valley. curiosity was able to see these remains from a distance, but the rover team hopes to be able to view them up close in 2023.

“This is the best evidence of water and waves we have seen on the entire mission,” project scientist Ashwin Vasawada said in a statement. curiosity at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “We’ve walked through thousands of meters of lake sediment and never seen evidence like this – and now we’ve found it in what we expected to be dry.”

Since 2014, the rover has been climbing to the foot of Mount Sharp, a 5 km high mountain that was once criss-crossed with lakes and streams that would provide a rich environment for microbial life if it ever formed on the Red Planet.

Mount Sharp is made up of layers, the oldest at the bottom and the youngest at the top. As it ascends, the rover moves along the Martian timeline, allowing scientists to study how Mars it has evolved from a more Earth-like planet in its ancient past, with a warmer climate and abundant water, to the frozen desert it is today.

Rising almost 800 meters above the base of the mountain, curiosity discovered these undulating stone textures preserved in the so-called “marker strip”, a thin layer of dark rock jutting out from the rest of Mount Sharp. This layer of rock is so hard that curiosity could not drill a sample out of it, despite several attempts.

They will look for more traces

Scientists will look for softer rocks over the next week. But even if they never get a taste of this unusual strip of rock, there are other places they want to explore.

Far ahead of the Marker Strip, scientists can see another clue to Earth’s ancient aquatic history. Mars in a valley called Gediz Vallis. The wind has sculpted the valley, but it is believed that a small river has eroded the channel that rises above Mount Sharp. Scientists suspect that wet landslides have also occurred here, bringing stones and debris the size of a car to the bottom of the valley.

Because the resulting pile of rubble sits on top of all other layers in the valley, it is clearly one of the youngest features on Mount Sharp. curiosity last year he managed to see this debris twice on the Gediz Vallis ridge, but he was able to view them only from a distance. The rover team hopes to get another chance to see it later this year.

Another clue that has fascinated the team is the unusual texture of the rocks, likely caused by some kind of regular weather or climate cycle, such as dust storms. Not far from the wavy textures, there are rocks consisting of layers having a uniform thickness and distance between them. This type of rhythmic pattern in the rocks of the Earth is usually due to atmospheric phenomena occurring at regular intervals. It is possible that the rhythmic patterns of these Martian rocks are associated with similar events, indicating changes in the Red Planet’s ancient climate.

Wave waves, mudflows and rhythmic layering tell us that the history of the transition from wet to dry in Mars It wasn’t easy,” explains Vasavada. – old climate Mars It was very complex, like the Earth.”

(According to Europa Press)

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