It is the most convincing evidence of water and waves discovered by the Curiosity rover.
Since 2004, the Curiosity rover has been investigating the Gale Crater on Mars. It may be a Mars veteran, but it still has some surprises under its sleeve, like as an ancient lake bed in an unexpected place.
The rover obtained photographs of awe-inspiring rocks that exhibit clear traces of ancient water on Mars. NASA stated on Wednesday that, billions of years ago, waves on the surface of a shallow lake churned up material at the lake bottom, eventually producing rippling textures in rock.
Mount Sharp, the enormous central mountain of the crater, is being ascended by Curiosity from its lower levels. One of the key aims of the rover is to discover whether or not this region formerly supported microbial life. Understanding the water history of the crater is crucial to the task.
This is the most convincing evidence of water and waves on Mars, according to Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada. “We went through tens of thousands of feet of lake sediments and never saw anything like this; now we’ve discovered it in an area we believed to be dry.”
NASA reports that the mountain resembles a timeline, with older layers at the base and fresher layers at the summit. The rocks are in a region known as the Marker Band, which features a distinct stratum of dark rock. The Curiosity rover has attempted to drill into the intriguing rocks in this region in order to investigate them more closely, but the rocks are so dense that the rover has thus far been unsuccessful. Still, the team hopes to drill into softer rock.
Not only the rippled lake rocks have been observed by scientists. Additionally, the Curiosity rover uncovered rocks with regular layers. The creation of these rock strata is still being investigated, but ancient dust storms may have played a role. “The wave ripples, debris flows, and rhythmic layers all indicate that the transition from wet to dry on Mars was not a simple one,” noted Vasavada. The ancient climate of Mars was marvelously complicated, similar to that of Earth.
