Springs
A study of images taken with the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter strongly suggests that hot springs once existed in Vernal Crater, in the Oxia Palus quadrangle. These springs may have provided a long-time location for life. Furthermore, mineral deposits associated with these springs may have preserved traces of Martian life. In Vernal Crater on a dark part of the floor, two light-toned, elliptical structures closely resemble hot springs on the Earth. They have inner and outer halos, with roughly circular depressions. A large number of hills are lined up close to the springs. These are thought to have formed by the movement of fluids along the boundaries of dipping beds. A picture below shows these springs. One of the depressions is visible. The discovery of opaline silica by the Mars Rovers, on the surface also suggests the presence of hot springs. Opaline silica is often deposited in hot springs. Scientists proposed this area should be visited by the Mars Science Laboratory.
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Springs in Vernal Crater, as seen by HIRISE
Read more about this topic: Oxia Palus Quadrangle
Famous quotes containing the word springs:
“Our hearts seemed safe in our breasts and sang to the
Light—
The marrow in the bone
We dreamed was safe . . . the blood in the veins, the
sap in the tree
Were springs of Deity.”
—Dame Edith Sitwell (1887–1964)
“I hate Science. It denies a man’s responsibility for his own deeds, abolishes the brotherhood that springs from God’s fatherhood. It is a hectoring, dictating expertise, which makes the least lovable of the Church Fathers seem liberal by contrast. It is far easier for a Hitler or a Stalin to find a mock- scientific excuse for persecution than it was for Dominic to find a mock-Christian one.”
—Basil Bunting (1900–1985)
“The study of crime begins with the knowledge of oneself. All that you despise, all that you loathe, all that you reject, all that you condemn and seek to convert by punishment springs from you.”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)