Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2004 Dec 3;306(5702):1727-30.
doi: 10.1126/science.1105286.

Evidence from Opportunity's Microscopic Imager for water on Meridiani Planum

K E Herkenhoff  1 , S W Squyres, R Arvidson, D S Bass, J F Bell 3rd, P Bertelsen, B L Ehlmann, W Farrand, L Gaddis, R Greeley, J Grotzinger, A G Hayes, S F Hviid, J R Johnson, B Jolliff, K M Kinch, A H Knoll, M B Madsen, J N Maki, S M McLennan, H Y McSween, D W Ming, J W Rice Jr, L Richter, M Sims, P H Smith, L A Soderblom, N Spanovich, R Sullivan, S Thompson, T Wdowiak, C Weitz, P Whelley
Affiliations

Evidence from Opportunity's Microscopic Imager for water on Meridiani Planum

K E Herkenhoff et al. Science. .

Abstract

The Microscopic Imager on the Opportunity rover analyzed textures of soils and rocks at Meridiani Planum at a scale of 31 micrometers per pixel. The uppermost millimeter of some soils is weakly cemented, whereas other soils show little evidence of cohesion. Rock outcrops are laminated on a millimeter scale; image mosaics of cross-stratification suggest that some sediments were deposited by flowing water. Vugs in some outcrop faces are probably molds formed by dissolution of relatively soluble minerals during diagenesis. Microscopic images support the hypothesis that hematite-rich spherules observed in outcrops and soils also formed diagenetically as concretions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources