Sedimentary often involves natural actions like wind or water moving particles.

Natural Processes

Think of sedimentary as relating to how tea leaves settle at the bottom of a cup.

Liquid Settling

Sedimentary implies variation -- different materials mixed together.

Non-Homogeneous

Sedimentary rocks are layered, as they form through accumulation over time.

Layer Formation

Sedimentary rocks can contain fossils as they often trap organic material.

Fossil Containment

Know common examples: sandstone, shale, limestone are all sedimentary rocks.

Common Rock Types

 and these ancient lake deposits we've been traversing across a landscape that's littered with sedimentary rocks. You can see some of those here in the foreground. And we've been sampling these as we've gone, trying to understand more about the relationship between sediments washed down in this river, Peace Vallis and out onto this fan of sediments

Mars Up Close, Part 2:...

 see two drill holes from our exploration first time we've drilled about five centimeters down into the surface of another planet here so we have been exploring with a suite of instruments we were investigating the rocks right in front of us you can see sort of different sedimentary rock units full of

Bethany Ehlmann:...

 has taught us a number of amazing things. There is sub-surface ice on that planet. And so where there is water, there is a very high chance of our kind of life. There's clearly sedimentary rocks all over the place – one of the landers is sitting in the middle of an ancient seabed,

Penelope Boston: Life on...

 Over time, the sediments around your fossil will lithify or turn into rock. But you're not in the clear yet! Many things could happen to those sedimentary rocks that might destroy your chances of getting discovered. They could get uplifted into a mountain range

How to fossilize...yourse...

 that eventually turn into rocks. What this means is that we can go to places like this, where we see big, thick stacks of sedimentary rocks, and go back in time and see what the landscapes looked like in the past. We can do this to help reconstruct

What rivers can tell us...

 as wind blew sand and eroded that rock back except where that pebble was. That's like one of my favorite pictures from this mission. Now, here is a close up. Like I said sedimentary rock, so this is bits of old rock.

Mars Up Close, Part 3:...

 ranged this is an example the drop stone a piece of ancient rock that was dropped into the ancient mud on the sea bottom these drop stones are visibly different from the sedimentary bedrock around them

Snowball Earth? PIPE...

 granite mountains here have been pushed up for miles on top of the granite lie spectacular red slabs of rock known as flat irons they're the patchwork remains of sedimentary rock that once blanketed

Rockies Thrust Up PIPE...

 It's not. And the answer relies on a formula that all paleontologists use. And I'm going to tell you the secret. First, find rocks of the right age. Second, those rocks must be sedimentary rocks.

Hunting for dinosaurs...

 sending a plastic tube down into the lake sediment bringing that to back up with the sedimentary layers in it and then doing a number of different types of analyses looking at those old life