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Explanation: Pictured above, layers upon layers stretch across the floor of West Candor Chasma within the immense martian Valles Marineris. Covering an area 1.5 by 2.9 kilometers, the full image from the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft shows over 100 individual beds. Each strikingly uniform layer is smooth, hard enough to form steep edges, and is 10 to 11 meters thick. In a press conference yesterday scientists Michael Malin and Ken Edgett presented this and other new images which show that the layered patterns exist at widespread locations near the martian equator. Their results indicate that some of the layered regions may be 3.5 billion years old. On planet Earth, layered patterns like these are formed from sediment deposited over time by large bodies of water. Likewise, the layered beds on Mars may be sedimentary rock formed in ancient lakes and seas. The researchers caution, however, that other uniquely martian processes may be responsible for the layering. Did life arise on ancient Mars? Because of their possible association with water, a prime location for future searches for fossil remains of martian life would be within these layers of Mars.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Mars - ancient - water - sedimentary rock
Publications with words: Mars - ancient - water - sedimentary rock
See also:
- APOD: 2024 December 3 Á Ice Clouds over a Red Planet
- APOD: 2024 November 10 Á Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars
- APOD: 2024 September 9 Á Mars: Moon, Craters, and Volcanos
- APOD: 2024 June 5 Á Shadow of a Martian Robot
- Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited
- The Shadow of Ingenuity s Damaged Rotor Blade
- APOD: 2023 November 7 Á A Martian Dust Devil Spins By