Ancient Martian Water Bodies Indicated by Wave Ripples
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The research associated with this finding was published in the journal Science Advances and involved a variety of scientists affiliated with the California Institute of Technology, including John Grotzinger—Harold Brown Professor of Geology—and Michael Lamb, Professor of Geology. They employed the data collected by NASA's Curiosity rover which discovered these ripple formations as it traversed the Gale Crater region in 2022.
According to postdoctoral scholar Claire Mondro, the formation of these ripples could only have occurred in open-water conditions interacting energetically with the atmosphere: "The shape of the ripples could only have been formed under water that was open to the atmosphere and acted upon by wind." This is an important realization that suggests a stable environmental scenario existed on ancient Mars.
DOI: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr0010
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