New findings on mars11/5/2023 Professor McLennan and his co-authors determined that the chemical elements in the rocks indicate the particles were carried by rivers into Yellowknife Bay without experiencing much chemical weathering until sometime after they were deposited. A key question about the clay minerals at Yellowknife Bay was whether they formed early in Martian history - up on the crater rim where the bits of rock originated - or later, down where the bits were carried by flowing water and deposited. A major model of Martian history posits that the planet had fresh water to generate clay minerals - and possibly support life - more than 4 billion years ago, but experienced a drying phenomenon that changed the conditions to more acidic and briny. This meticulous representation is crucial to understanding whether Mars was theoretically habitable. The rover fully characterized this environment in terms of its geological and geochemical relationships." Adds Hurowitz, "Curiosity carried out the work in an area on Mars called Yellowknife Bay, within Gale crater. "We have determined that the rocks preserved there represent an ancient geological environment that was habitable for microbial life," says McLennan, who was selected as a Participating Scientist for the NASA Mars Science Laboratory rover mission.
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