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Link to original content: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15576602
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. 2004 Dec 3;306(5702):1698-703.
doi: 10.1126/science.1106171.

The Opportunity Rover's Athena science investigation at Meridiani Planum, Mars

S W Squyres  1 , R E Arvidson, J F Bell 3rd, J Brückner, N A Cabrol, W Calvin, M H Carr, P R Christensen, B C Clark, L Crumpler, D J Des Marais, C d'Uston, T Economou, J Farmer, W Farrand, W Folkner, M Golombek, S Gorevan, J A Grant, R Greeley, J Grotzinger, L Haskin, K E Herkenhoff, S Hviid, J Johnson, G Klingelhöfer, A H Knoll, G Landis, M Lemmon, R Li, M B Madsen, M C Malin, S M McLennan, H Y McSween, D W Ming, J Moersch, R V Morris, T Parker, J W Rice Jr, L Richter, R Rieder, M Sims, M Smith, P Smith, L A Soderblom, R Sullivan, H Wänke, T Wdowiak, M Wolff, A Yen
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The Opportunity Rover's Athena science investigation at Meridiani Planum, Mars

S W Squyres et al. Science. .

Abstract

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has investigated the landing site in Eagle crater and the nearby plains within Meridiani Planum. The soils consist of fine-grained basaltic sand and a surface lag of hematite-rich spherules, spherule fragments, and other granules. Wind ripples are common. Underlying the thin soil layer, and exposed within small impact craters and troughs, are flat-lying sedimentary rocks. These rocks are finely laminated, are rich in sulfur, and contain abundant sulfate salts. Small-scale cross-lamination in some locations provides evidence for deposition in flowing liquid water. We interpret the rocks to be a mixture of chemical and siliciclastic sediments formed by episodic inundation by shallow surface water, followed by evaporation, exposure, and desiccation. Hematite-rich spherules are embedded in the rock and eroding from them. We interpret these spherules to be concretions formed by postdepositional diagenesis, again involving liquid water.

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