Petrographic thin section made from core sample is shown. This 30 micron thin slice of rock allows a view of the types of features thought to be microbial. Here, the blue layers are an epoxy added in to see void-space in the rock and the grey is sediment. The morphology of the orangey-brown layers are suggestive of microbial activity, such as they way they roll over themselves in the bottom left and smoothly drape over the triangular feature. This type of deposition demonstrates that the sediment had to have a degree of cohesive stickiness, such as that provided by the presence of microbial mats. Credit: USGS Core Research Center
As NASA has confirmed flowing saltwater on the surface of Mars, the hunt for life on the Red Planet has new momentum...
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