Presented by Michael Thorpe, NASA Johnson Space Center.

Preserved in the sedimentary rock record of Mars is an ancient (more than 3 Ga) history of rivers and lakes, depicting a rich water-lain past that persisted long enough to sculpt landforms and create thick stacks of fluviolacustrine rocks. This rock record illuminates a time when ancient rivers and streams on the surface of Mars physically and chemically altered the terrains and then transported and deposited sediments in downstream basins (i.e., source-to-sink). Since landing in Gale crater, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover has traversed over approx. 400 m of one of these sedimentary basins, exploring mudstones, sandstones, and even conglomerates from the Bradbury and Mount Sharp groups. To help paint the picture of what the paleoenvironment of Mars looked like, we shift our focus to similar environments on Earth, searching for clues to piece together a complex sedimentary story.

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