Rivers on Mars, just like Earth. - Polidicks

[quote] [quote] [IMG]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/692158main_Williams-3pia16189-43_946-710.jpg[/IMG] ============================ Rock Outcrops on Mars and Earth This set of images compares the Link outcrop of rocks on Mars (left) with similar rocks seen on Earth (right). The image of Link, obtained by NASA's Curiosity rover, shows rounded gravel fragments, or clasts, up to a couple inches (few centimeters), within the rock outcrop. Erosion of the outcrop results in gravel clasts that fall onto the ground, creating the gravel pile at left. The outcrop characteristics are consistent with a sedimentary conglomerate, or a rock that was formed by the deposition of water and is composed of many smaller rounded rocks cemented together. A typical Earth example of sedimentary conglomerate formed of gravel fragments in a stream is shown on the right. An annotated version of the image highlights a piece of gravel that is about 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) across. It was selected as an example of coarse size and rounded shape. Rounded grains (of any size) occur by abrasion in sediment transport, by wind or water, when the grains bounce against each other. Gravel fragments are too large to be transported by wind. At this size, scientists know the rounding occurred in water transport in a stream. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS and PSI [/quote] PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Curiosity rover mission has found evidence a stream once ran vigorously across the area on Mars where the rover is driving. There is earlier evidence for the presence of water on Mars, but this evidence -- images of rocks containing ancient streambed gravels -- is the first of its kind. Scientists are studying the images of stones cemented into a layer of conglomerate rock. The sizes and shapes of stones offer clues to the speed and distance of a long-ago stream's flow. "From the size of gravels it carried, we can interpret the water was moving about 3 feet per second, with a depth somewhere between ankle and hip deep," said Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich of the University of California, Berkeley. "Plenty of papers have been written about channels on Mars with many different hypotheses about the flows in them. This is the first time we're actually seeing water-transported gravel on Mars. This is a transition from speculation about the size of streambed material to direct observation of it." The finding site lies between the north rim of Gale Crater and the base of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside the crater. Earlier imaging of the region from Mars orbit allows for additional interpretation of the gravel-bearing conglomerate. The imagery shows an alluvial fan of material washed down from the rim, streaked by many apparent channels, sitting uphill of the new finds. The rounded shape of some stones in the conglomerate indicates long-distance transport from above the rim, where a channel named Peace Vallis feeds into the alluvial fan. The abundance of channels in the fan between the rim and conglomerate suggests flows continued or repeated over a long time, not just once or for a few years. The discovery comes from examining two outcrops, called "Hottah" and "Link," with the telephoto capability of Curiosity's mast camera during the first 40 days after landing. Those observations followed up on earlier hints from another outcrop, which was exposed by thruster exhaust as Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory Project's rover, touched down. "Hottah looks like someone jack-hammered up a slab of city sidewalk, but it's really a tilted block of an ancient streambed," said Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The gravels in conglomerates at both outcrops range in size from a grain of sand to a golf ball. Some are angular, but many are rounded. "The shapes tell you they were transported and the sizes tell you they couldn't be transported by wind. They were transported by water flow," said Curiosity science co-investigator Rebecca Williams of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz. The science team may use Curiosity to learn the elemental composition of the material, which holds the conglomerate together, revealing more characteristics of the wet environment that formed these deposits. The stones in the conglomerate provide a sampling from above the crater rim, so the team may also examine several of them to learn about broader regional geology. The slope of Mount Sharp in Gale Crater remains the rover's main destination. Clay and sulfate minerals detected there from orbit can be good preservers of carbon-based organic chemicals that are potential ingredients for life. "A long-flowing stream can be a habitable environment," said Grotzinger. "It is not our top choice as an environment for preservation of organics, though. We're still going to Mount Sharp, but this is insurance that we have already found our first potentially habitable environment." During the two-year prime mission of the Mars Science Laboratory,esearchers will use Curiosity's 10 instruments to investigate whether areas in Gale Crater have ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech, built Curiosity and manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. For more about Curiosity, visit: [url]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl[/url] , [url]http://www.nasa.gov/msl[/url] and [url]http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl[/url] . You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: [url]http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity[/url] and [url]http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity[/url] . ============================= Source: [URL]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-305#7[/URL] [/quote] Fucking Science!:dance:

[quote]=============================[/quote] Humanity has outdone itself once more. Spectacular data. The part with the = makes me think about life. EDIT: He fixed the OP so my smartass comment is no longer relevant. Very cool stuff, though.

some of the article in your OP coulda helped

What a beautiful river.

Neat, but nothing new we didn't really know though, we know there used to be rivers running through, we just haven't photographed it in the context of a riverbed before. Still cool to see echoes of a world far gone.

[QUOTE=mac338;37821457]Neat, but nothing new we didn't really know though, we know there used to be rivers running through, we just haven't photographed it in the context of a riverbed before. Still cool to see echoes of a world far gone.[/QUOTE] Seeing such familiar structured pebbles is uncanny though.. The commonality is sobering; it's like meeting a long lost relative.

I love to hear about every new water-related find in space because it increases the chance of them needing to send a marine biologist to investigate things. You know, for reasons. I hope we come across ancient reef signs. Like coral-produced sediments. Or even some type of stromatolite-like rock deposits. [editline]27th September 2012[/editline] I just want an excuse to go to space.

What's interesting about water in space is that it's one of the two known factors needed for life to exist: Liquid water and carbon.

what if mars is an image of earth in a few billion years?

[QUOTE=Flubadoo;37821653]what if mars is an image of earth in a few billion years?[/QUOTE] I think we would atleast notice some buildings.

[QUOTE=Bradyns;37821510]Seeing such familiar structured pebbles is uncanny though.. The commonality is sobering; it's like meeting a long lost relative.[/QUOTE] 179.2 million miles from Earth and the only difference is the red tint. [editline]27th September 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Pepsi-cola;37821707]I think we would atleast notice some buildings.[/QUOTE] A building would not last for 1/14th of the universe's entire existence, even the most hardy would struggle beyond 10 thousand years.

[QUOTE=Pepsi-cola;37821707]I think we would atleast notice some buildings.[/QUOTE] Don't think so. Billions of years is a long time. Consider the fact that Romans had some groundbreaking buildings: modern quality. 1000 years later most of it had crumbled. Another thousand, twice as much would be gone. One billion is a million thousands. A city like New York would have probably nothing but tiny ruins after a few thousand years of decay, and nothing but underground fossils after half a million years. Then remember you've still got 2000 times that period to go to get to the first of the "few billions". At best what would be left of us would be some fossils of our culture isolated underground.

doubletoast, -snip-

[QUOTE=BrainDeath;37821780]179.2 million miles from Earth and the only difference is the red tint. [/QUOTE] And the lack of atmosphere...and lack of liquid water...and the blistering cold...

[QUOTE=yawmwen;37821815]And the lack of atmosphere...and lack of liquid water...and the blistering cold...[/QUOTE] Once upon a time it had those things.

[QUOTE=mac338;37821839]Once upon a time it had those things.[/QUOTE] Every time I see you post something like that in a thread about space, I imagine Carl Sagan saying that and I want to give you a hug.

Ive always thought that because of where earth is located in terms of orbit, it's the perfect place to be. It would be cool if we could sustain life on mars but i feel it wouldnt last because of how cold it would eventually become.

I thought we already knew this anyway

[QUOTE=mac338;37821839]Once upon a time it had those things.[/QUOTE] And if it is up to humans... It will once again someday...someday. I would love to be a settler in Mars. So alien planet but still looking hauntingly home.