article_snippet.sent: The ‘Hidden Valley’ in Gale Crater on Mars.
article_snippet.sent: Very fine-grained sediments, which slowly fell down through the water, were deposited right at the bottom of the crater lake.
article_snippet.sent: The sediment plates at the bottom of the crater lake are level, so everything indicates that Gale Crater on Mars may have been a large lake.
article_snippet.sent: Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012 in the large crater, Gale, located just south of the equator.
article_snippet.sent: The giant crater is 154 kilometres in diameter and the rim of The giant crater is almost five kilometres high.
article_snippet.sent: In the middle of The giant crater lies the mountain, Mount Sharp.
article_snippet.sent: Curiosity has travelled more than 10km from the landing site towards Mount Sharp and has carried out many studies along the way.
article_snippet.sent: Researchers say that Gale Crater was once a giant lake on the planet . '
article_snippet.sent: Now the new close-up images taken by the rover all the way en route to Mount Sharp show that there are expanses of sedimentary deposits, lying as 'plates' one above the other and leaning a bit toward Mount Sharp.
article_snippet.sent: Dr Madsen said: 'These kind of deposits are formed when large amounts of water flow down the slopes of the crater and these streams of water meet the stagnant water in the form of a lake.'