Confirmed: Water Once Flowed On Mars

An anonymous reader writes "A new study based on observations last September by the Curiosity rover on Mars has confirmed that pebble-containing slabs of rock found on the Martian surface were part of an ancient streambed. The work provides some of the most definitive evidence yet that water once flowed on Mars. '[The pebbles'] smooth appearance is identical to gravels found in rivers on Earth. Rock fragments that bounce along the bottom of a stream of water will have their edges knocked off, and when these pebbles finally come to rest they will often align in a characteristic overlapping fashion. ...It is confirmation that water has played its part in sculpting not only this huge equatorial bowl but by implication many of the other landforms seen on the planet.' According to NASA, 'The stream carried the gravels at least a few miles, or kilometers, the researchers estimated. The atmosphere of modern Mars is too thin to make a sustained stream flow of water possible, though the planet holds large quantities of water ice. Several types of evidence have indicated that ancient Mars had diverse environments with liquid water. However, none but these rocks found by Curiosity could provide the type of stream flow information published this week. Curiosity's images of conglomerate rocks indicate that atmospheric conditions at Gale Crater once enabled the flow of liquid water on the Martian surface.'"

Re:What happened to it?

[schneidafunk]

here [imdb.com] is your answer.

Re:Water in particular?

[quonsar]

More likely to have been vodka according to my research.

Re:What happened to it?

[basicasic]

The original liquid was of course heavy water which (as every schoolboy knows) breaks down over time to become ordinary light water. This then floated off into space.

Re:Just to play devil's advocate

[rwise2112]

There is no "final confirmation" in science

I can confirm. This is true.

Sorry, couldn't resist!