--- description: Mars Curiosity rover finds clues to genesis of ancient lake and peak title: Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to Genesis of Ancient Lake image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Space](/tag/space/) ## Space Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to Genesis of Ancient Lake by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2014 12:35 AM CUT by [NBC News](/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 9, 2014 12:35 AM CUT Geological observations from NASA’s Curiosity rover have helped scientists come up with a scenario for the creation of a lake that’s bigger than Salt Lake and a mountain that’s higher than Mount Rainier on ancient Mars. The scenario suggests that water could have filled much of 96-mile-wide (154-kilometer-wide) Gale Crater 3.5 billion years ago or so, and that the 3.5-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain in the middle of the crater could have been formed by repeated cycles of sediment buildup and erosion. The findings provide further support for the view that ancient Mars could have sustained life as we know it on Earth… [Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/mars-curiosity-rover-finds-clues-genesis-ancient-lake-peak-n264081 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3624682/mars-curiosity-rover-ancient-lake/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3624682/mars-curiosity-rover-ancient-lake/"},"headline":"Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to Genesis of Ancient Lake","datePublished":"2014-12-09T00:35:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T02:40:36.589Z","description":"Geological observations helped scientists come up with a scenario for the creation of a lake bigger than Salt Lake","url":"https://time.com/3624682/mars-curiosity-rover-ancient-lake/","keywords":["Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3624682/mars-curiosity-rover-ancient-lake/","name":"Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Clues to Genesis of Ancient Lake"}}]}] ```