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It appears that the rocks at Meridiani were not just altered or modified by water,

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they were actually formed in water, perhaps a shallow salty sea.

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The Opportunity rover has sent back conclusive evidence of sedimentation on the surface of Meridiani Planum.

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Sedimentation occurs when materials are deposited on the bottom of a body of moving water and create layered rocks.

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Those rocks can then help geologists figure out what type of water was on the surface,

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how much of it was there, and even how fast it was moving.

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Scientists working on the rover project believe that Meridiani may have been the shoreline of a

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large body of salt water that slowly formed the rocks found on this area of the martian surface.