Mars was said to have shifted between drench and droughts three billion years ago, as evidenced from its sedimentary layer composition gathered by the NASA Curiosity mission.
Long dry periods swapped with wetter stretches apparently have occurred frequently on the Red Planet, before it turned into the rocky, dried out wilderness we see today, a study (Alternating wet and dry depositional environments recorded in the stratigraphy of Mount Sharp at Gale crater, Mars) suggested after analyzing data from the Curiosity rover. Results of the study have been published in the Geology journal.
Utilizing the ChemCam instrument and telescope on the rover, scientists were able to analyze the sedimentary bed build-up around the Mars surface. The Curiosity rover is presently exploring the base of Aeolis Mons; a mountain on the center of Mars's Gale crater.
On its way up on the Mars red terrain, which consists of hundreds of feet of thick dust, the types of beds were seen to have altered their composition drastically, the study said. Dunes located at the top of immense masses of clay that make up the foot of Mount Sharp would signify that those structures were moved by the winds at some point.
Possible River Floodplains on Mars
These dunes might have gained their current shape during the long dry spell, the scientists declared. They also discovered brittle, thin, and resistant beds higher up the dunes, and these were observed as a characteristic of river-floodplain deposits.
These would mean a return of a wetter climate at some time, due to flooding within the Gale crater.
Changes in the landscape had been observed until today's tremendously barren conditions that came around three billion years ago.
As Mars turned dry, Earth was predominantly a "water world," previous studies noted. Venus, meanwhile, had then offered an ideal environment for life to prosper.
As Venus deteriorated from a greenhouse effect that led to the infernal world we see at present, and Earth, in turn, became a flourishing continental planet, Mars stayed dry.
Detailed Look on Martian Sedimentary Beds
Orbiting spacecraft around Mars had previously offered hints about the composition of minerals at the slope of the 18,000-foot Mount Sharp. Now, Curiosity's ChemCam has given a detailed look on the sedimentary beds from the Mars surface.
Using the ChemCam telescope, the US and French scientists were able to discern and present the conditions on which the sedimentary beds initially formed.
In its mission to Mars since 2012, Curiosity is likely to continue its climb onto the Mount Sharp foothills, and drill into various types of beds to find out the geological make-up of the scorched Martian terrain, and test the said theory.
Those changes show how the foregone climate could have evolved, and the rover's continuing work may bring needed confirmation and insight on their origins.
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