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

Kenneth E. Herkenhoff; S. W. Squyres; R. Arvidson; D.S. Bass; J. F. Bell; P. Bertelsen; B. L. Ehlmann; W. Farrand; Lisa R. 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; L. Richter; M. Sims; P. H. Smith; Laurence A. Soderblom; Nicole Spanovich; R. Sullivan; S. Thompson; T. Wdowiak; C. Weitz; P. Whelley

doi:10.1126/science.1105286

Home/Archive/USGS

USGS · 70201098

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

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

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.

Explore related subjects

Science Article

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, S. W. Squyres, R. Arvidson, D.S. Bass, J. F. Bell, P. Bertelsen, B. L. Ehlmann, W. Farrand, Lisa R. 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, L. Richter, M. Sims, P. H. Smith, Laurence A. Soderblom, Nicole Spanovich, R. Sullivan, S. Thompson, T. Wdowiak, C. Weitz, P. Whelley. 2005. Evidence from Opportunity’s Microscopic Imager for water on Meridiani Planum. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1105286

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related USGS reports

USGS2026

Forest canopy decline under elevated CO2 during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Uncertainty remains regarding the impact of rapid anthropogenic warming on forest ecosystem structure, biodiversity, and function. As an analog, we reconstruct forest canopy density and compositional change in Wyoming, USA, through the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), an interval of abrupt carbon increase and warming ~56 million years ago. We develop a proxy to quantify leaf area index and assess shifts in floral composition using palynomorphs. Forest canopies opened abruptly at onset of PETM warming, landscape erosion increased, and vegetation shifted from broad-leaved angiosperm to fern- and palm-dominated ecosystems. When combined with regional data, these patterns suggest that continental-scale changes in plant communities cause landscape destabilization. These shifts also have implications for multimillennial-scale hydrologic and carbon cycle feedbacks in the climate system.

Wyoming↗

USGS2026

Predictable seismic cycles result from structural rupture barriers on oceanic transform faults

Earthquakes of magnitude ( M ) >5.5 on oceanic transform faults (OTFs) repeatedly rupture the same locked patches, sometimes quasiperiodically. These patches are separated by “barriers” that halt earthquake propagation and slip mostly aseismically. However, the physical processes governing this systematic behavior remain unclear. We analyzed two barriers along the Gofar transform fault that have arrested ~15 M 6 earthquakes over the past three decades. Ocean bottom seismometer data indicate that the barriers hosted intense microseismicity before the mainshocks and comprise multistrand faults and transtensional stepovers with 100- to 400-m lateral offset. These characteristics contradict earthquake rupture termination models invoking velocity-strengthening friction or large geometric steps and instead point to damage-enhanced porosity and dilatancy-strengthening mechanisms. By isolating rupture segments, the barriers regulate the quasiperiodic recurrence of OTF earthquakes.

Science↗

USGS2026

A 481 m-high landslide-tsunami in a cruise ship-frequented Alaska fjord

Early in the morning of 10 August 2025, a >64 × 10 6 –cubic meter landslide struck Tracy Arm fjord in Alaska. The landslide was preconditioned by glacial retreat caused by climate change. The resulting 481-meter runup megatsunami followed an initial 100-meter-high breaking wave traveling at >70 meters per second. The landslide was preceded by several days of microseismicity, which increased in rate and magnitude until ~1 hour before failure. The landslide produced globally observed long-period seismic waves equivalent in size to a moment magnitude 5.4 earthquake. A long-period (~66 second) global seismic signal, produced by a landslide-induced seiche trapped within the fjord, persisted for up to 36 hours, the second time a days-long seiche had thus been observed. With fjord regions increasingly visited by cruise ships, and climate change making similar events more likely, this unanticipated, near-miss event highlights the growing risk from landslides and tsunamis in coastal environments.

Alaska↗