Several posts on Mars today – and the focussed search for water and moisture on the red planet. At http://phys.org/print305921732.html … we have images of dark markings on a Martian slope that changes with the seasons. Scientists have suggested it might indicate salty water that advances seasonally down the slopes. The markings are however somewhat close to the equator – and the terrain is generally arid.
At http://phys.org/print305885270.html … we have a video of the Martian North Pole from a variety of angles courtesy of ESAs Mars Express spacecraft. The ice cap has a diameter of 1000km with a depth of up to 2km. There is a long chasm, some 318km in lenght, across one part of the ice cap. Worth peeping at.
At http://phys.org/print305876713.html … concernd dry mineralogy on Mars – but clay has an association with water. This is essentially a piece of speculation about the geology on Mars as derived from samples of sediments which were collected and studied by NASAsa Mars Science Observatory on Curiosity Rover. The information comes from a paper in Science, which was discussed at the 2013 GPU autumn meeting (still in progress). See also www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/12/05/science.1245267.abstract