NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has photographed rocks imprinted with tiny ripples from an historic lake. And these tiny ripples are making waves on Earth, as they’re the clearest proof but that water as soon as existed on Mars.
The ripple marks have been found frozen in Martian rock on the slopes of Mount Sharp. Although Curiosity has traversed many rock deposits laid down in historic lakes, scientists had not seen such vivid marks within the rocks earlier than.
“That is one of the best proof of water and waves that we have seen in the complete mission,” Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s challenge scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, mentioned in a statement (opens in new tab). “We climbed by way of hundreds of ft of lake deposits and by no means noticed proof like this – and now we discovered it in a spot we anticipated to be dry.”
Associated: Curiosity rover: The ultimate guide
Learn extra: Curiosity rover: 15 awe-inspiring photos of Mars (gallery)
Since final fall, the rover has been exploring a area of what scientists name “sulfate-bearing” rock. Scientists consider this salt-rich space was deposited when an historic lake was almost dry. However the ripples have been created on the underside of a shallow lake as winds created waves on the lake’s floor, disturbing the sediments beneath.
The ripple marks are about 0.5 mile (0.8 kilometer) up Mount Sharp, a mountain made up of a layer cake of rock that data Martian historical past. The three-mile-tall (5 km) mountain was as soon as dotted with lakes and streams, making it an intriguing space to seek for indicators of ancient Martian life, in line with the NASA assertion.
Curiosity captured a 360-degree panorama of a layer of rock generally known as the “Marker Band” on the slope of the mountain on Dec. 16, 2022. The rover additionally tried to drill into the rocks of this layer, close to the rippled options, however the rocks have been too exhausting. Curiosity’s drivers plan to search for softer rock within the layer for added drilling makes an attempt.
The presence of ripples in a supposedly dry space means that Mars didn’t go from moist to dry in a easy, linear method, the Curiosity researchers mentioned. Close to the rippled rocks, researchers additionally noticed rock layers with common spacing and thickness. All these layers usually happen on Earth throughout patterns of periodic change.
“Mars’ historic local weather had an exquisite complexity to it,” Vasavada mentioned, “very similar to Earth’s.”
As Curiosity continues to discover the Marker Band, mission scientists hope the rover will get a view of a wind-carved valley generally known as Gediz Vallis excessive on Mount Sharp. The valley seems to carry particles from moist landslides and a channel that will have been fashioned by a river.
Initially printed on LiveScience.com.
