The quest of NASA is to find water on Mars – and therefore to find evidence of life. Curiosity Rover has been analysing the ground as it travels across the face of Mars, discovering clay and minerals in the process, and boron. On earth boron is associated with ground water.
… Mount Sharp is one of those peculiarities where there is a rise in the ground inside a crater, which orthodox accepts as a phenomenon but has yet to find an adequate explanation. The Electric Universe people claim they are formed by massive electric discharges – wee www.thunderbolts.info for more information on this – and the subject has also come up on their forum. Mainstream scientists are more cautious and conventional in their outlook and therefore concentrate on what has been discovered by the onboard instruments – which is boron. They are speculating that boron may have been deposited on Mars after water in a lake evaporated.
Another recent discovery is the mineral hematite (quite common on the earth) and this occurs in berry form near the landings site (see below) …
… but has now been found as a mineral deposit elsewhere. Sulphate has also been found. See http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2016/12/14/minerals-boron-on-m…