February 16, 2007
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Stunning color pictures from Mars offer new evidence that plentiful
groundwater once percolated through Martian bedrock.
The new images, taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, reveal a
terrain of banded rocks similar to that found in the southwestern U.S.,
said Chris Okubo, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of
Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
The new pictures show that Martian rocks in this sandy landscape are riddled with small cracks.
These cracks bear telltale signs that fluid—probably water—seeped through them hundreds of millions of years ago.
