Meridiani Planum: "Drenched"

Strong supporting evidence of water once being on Mars is found. Near Mars rover Opporunity's landing site in Meridiana Planum some rocks were found that showed evidence of long standing periods in liquid water. "Liquid water once flowed through these rocks. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry," said Cornell University's Steve Squyres, the principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. "We've been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion." Spectrometers aboard the rover recorded the presence of salts that could only form in water. Also cameras found evidence of "vugs" which are cracks in rock that form when salt crystals grown in rock soaked in liquid water then the salt erodes to leave the cracks. Finally they found "blueberries" which form with the accumulation of minerals on water soaked rocks.