Observations from NASA ’s Curiosity rover have provided some challenging revelations on the preceding climate of Mars . Based on this data , researchers believe that the Red Planet experienced spectacular fluctuations between surface-active agent epochs and dryer date of reference . Mars , it seem , did n’t dry up all at once . The finding are reported in the journalGeology .
The French - US team was led by William Rapin , fromthe Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie . They calculate at the different layer of sediment spotted by Curiosity on Mount Sharp ( formally named Aeolis Mons ) . The whole geographic expedition of Curiosity has been a flavour back in time . Gale Crater , where the rover is situate , is an ancient lake , and the 5.5 - kilometer ( 3.4 - Swedish mile ) tall Mount Sharp is made of layer after layer of deposited material that was then wear away .
But not all the layers are the same . Curiosity has drop a fair bit of time studying up exit the so - called corpse - bearing social unit ( if you like superimposed rock , check this out ) and it is now approaching the sulfate - bearing unit . This analysis provides the first description of this region of Mount Sharp and suggests that the different looking layer tell apart by telescopic imager of the ChemCam musical instrument meant different climates .
The Henry Clay - rich layered deposit are expected to have been formed in a lake - bed , and on top of those , there are sediments consistent with being formed by the migration of wind - take form sand dune . This paint a picture that the realm had dry out up and the planet had lost its free - course pee – but apparently not for the last time . Above the dry - formed sediment , there are alternating brittle and resistant beds , distinctive of river - floodplain deposits . So back into wet conditions . At least for a while .
The whole jolting slope is several hundred meter thick and corresponds to the Martian Hesperian eld , which lasted from 3.7 to 2.9 billion long time ago . So , the thought from the current observations is the mood of Mars must have vacillate – water system must have disappeared for a foresighted while before amount back .
But where did the pee go ? That is actually an open question for planetary scientists . The oecumenical idea had that over sentence , as the planet lose its atmosphere , the water vaporise and was lose to space . Butnew researchsuggests that a large fraction of the water ( if not the legal age of it ) might still be on Mars trapped inside rocks and minerals buried deep beneath the planet ’s crust .
