Data from an out-of-commission Mars rover, Spirit, indicated parts of the Red Planet's surface is being dissolved by an acidic fog.
According to Discovery News, the fog would be a product of Mars' recently discovered water store, however scant it is. The acidity of the fog is apparently coating Martian rocks and aiding in their erosion.
Shoshanna Cole, a planetary scientist at the Geological Society of America, and the study researchers focused on a group of outcrops in the Gusev Crater known as the "Watchtower Class."
"The special thing about Watchtower Class is that it's very widespread and we see it in different locations," Cole said in a press release. "As far as we can tell, it's part of the ground there."
Currently an assistant professor at Ithaca College, Cole began working on the project as her PhD thesis while studying at Cornell University. She said the rocks can help detail the geological history of Mars, a planet of great interest for future astronaut travel.
"So we can see the agglomerations progress in size from west to east and the iron changes in the same way," Cole said in the release. "So nothing is being added or taken away, but it was changed.
"This would have happened in tiny amounts over a very long time. There's even one place where you see the cementing agent healing a fracture. It's pretty awesome. I was pretty happy when I found that one."
