NASA scientists were astounded when the curiosity mars rover was able to take a remarkable photograph of minerals on Mars that looked similar to an ice cream sandwich.
The mineral rocks that is found at a location that is named Garden City shelters ridges that measures to 2.5 inches tall and is constituted of bright and dark mineral veins.
"Some of them look like ice-cream sandwiches: dark on both edges and white in the middle," Linda Kah a member of the curiosity science team of the University of Tennessee said . "These materials tell us about secondary fluids that were transported through the region after the host rock formed."
The Curiosity rover was on its mission to find out if Mars sustained microbial life it had landed on its destination in August 2012. The rover had discovered a proof of an age old livable lake-and-stream which is situated at a certain location near its landing area named Yellowknife Bay.
The Garden City veins were created by the fluid movement and is probably more recent compared to Yellow Bay lake formation which has more likely been there for around 3.5 billion years ago. It is said that the fluid movement happened in a wet environment that left accumulations in lake beds.
A large variety of rock samples were examined by the Curiosity which were taken from three different locations situated in the lower part of Mount Sharp where different mineral compositions was also found. With its discovery were also noticeable veins that show the mountain's layers , making it possible to track its different stages of weathering.
The next assignment for the Curiosity team is to learn how the mineral rocks and veins were made and the chemical composition of the fluids responsible for altering them and drifted to the ground in Garden City.
Hardened mud is all over the area before the fractures of the mineral veins were created. Researchers explained that materials that looked darker is a proof that there had been a recent flow of fluid within the white veins after the cracks were created.
via Science - Google News http://ift.tt/1DArbYW
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