This amazing photo taken by NASA's Curiosity rover captured, frozen in time, the movement of water at the bottom of an ancient Martian lake.
“Whale Rock” shows a geological phenomenon known as “horizontal stratification” inside the outcrop at the foot of Sharp Mountain, which rises to a height of 3, 4 miles (5, 5 km) in the center of the huge Martian crater Gale.
"Horizontal layering (well distinguishable in the form of layers) reflects the formation and passage of sand waves, known as ripples or dunes," NASA employees wrote in an image description that was made on November 2 and released on Monday (December 8).
"The direction of movement of this small ripples and dunes points to the southeast. This is the direction to Mount Sharp from the area where Curiosity found evidence of the delta deposit, the place where the ancient stream flowed into the lake," they added. "The direction of the flows recorded in the sediments is consistent with the direction of water movement down the delta to the deeper waters of the lake."
Sharp Mountain View
"The direction of the ripples suggests that Mount Sharpe did not exist when precipitation formed on Whale Rock," scientists told Curiosity during a press conference.
"The water was supposed to flow down north, away from Mount Sharp," they said. "This was probably because the drain into the lake gradually formed a giant hill, which the Martian winds gradually cut down in Mount Sharp.
The Curiosity rover has been exploring Gale Crater, 96 miles (154 km) wide, since landing in August 2012. The robot spent its first year on Mars near its landing site called “Yellowknife Bay”. Curiosity went to the foothills of Mount Sharp (the final destination of the rover) in July 2013 and ended a long way in September of this year.
