Chemistry Nexus

A NASA press release claims that the Opportunity rover “has demonstrated some rocks on Mars probably formed as deposits at the bottom of a body of gently flowing saltwater.”

“Bedding patterns in some finely layered rocks indicate the sand-sized grains of sediment that eventually bonded together were shaped into ripples by water at least five centimeters (two inches) deep, possibly much deeper, and flowing at a speed of 10 to 50 centimeters (four to 20 inches) per second,” said Dr. John Grotzinger, rover science-team member from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.