Dry Streambed on Alluvial Fan in Northern Chile

This image shows a dry streambed on an alluvial fan in the Atacama Desert, Chile, revealing the typical patchy, heterogeneous mixture of grain sizes deposited together. On Mars, Curiosity has seen two rock outcrops close to its Bradbury Landing site that also record a mixture of sand and pebbles transported by water that were most likely deposited along an ancient streambed.

Image credit: UC Berkeley