Sojourner, the Mars Pathfinder rover, discovered pebbles on the
surface and in rocks that may be sedimentary--not volcanic--in origin.
Surface pebbles may have been rounded by Ares flood waters or liberated
by weathering of sedimentary rocks called conglomerates. Conglomerates
imply that water existed elsewhere and earlier than the Ares flood.
Most soil-like deposits are similar to moderately dense soils on Earth.
Small amounts of dust are currently settling from the atmosphere.
The Rover Team: J. R. Matijevic, J. Crisp, D. B. Bickler, R. S. Banes, B. K. Cooper, H. J. Eisen, J. Gensler, A. Haldemann, F. Hartman, K. A. Jewett, L. H. Matthies, S. L. Laubach, A. H. Mishkin, J. C. Morrison,
T. T. Nguyen, A. R. Sirota, H. W. Stone, S. Stride,
L. F. Sword, J. A. Tarsala, A. D. Thompson, M. T. Wallace, R. Welch, E. Wellman, B. H. Wilcox, Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. D. Ferguson, P. Jenkins, J. Kolecki, G. A. Landis, D. Wilt, NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135, USA.
*
Contributions by H. J. Moore, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo
Park, CA 94025, USA, and F. Pavlics, 3337 Campanil Drive, Santa Barbara, CA 93109, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to H. J. Moore.
E-mail: moore{at}astmnl.wr.usgs.gov
