At the base of Mount Sharp, Curiosity collected evidence for clay minerals that formed from lakes and streams that once ran through Gale Crater.

But higher up on the mountain, those streams had seemingly dried up into trickles and sand dunes, which had formed above the lake sediments.

The area that Curiosity is currently exploring also boasts hills that may have formed in dry conditions, and those hills are marked by large, wind-swept sand dunes that likely hardened into rock over time, according to NASA.

Meanwhile, the rover also found evidence of sediments that were carried over by streams of water through the sand dunes.