Hard Evidence Of Liquid Water On Mars Today
Pictures of active geyser vents and wet soil
I will start out with this image. The best illustration is in this rather large full-color image that I have blown up and annotated. There is no other process other than water runoff that will produce this effect, given the range of temperatures and pressures and the available chemistry on Mars. A solvent that is common and liquid has been sprayed over the area and has left vent holes in the ground where it emerged. It has cleaned off the fossil spherules on the rock surfaces, but the lower spherules have been covered with mud in the runoff area.
The soil has been segregated into various sized particles and washed down into Endurance Crater. And furthermore, the sand has been washed from under the rocks by this solvent as it has run down into the crater.
Now to show images of liquid water present on Mars today. This is an image of Bounce Rock, the rock that shows trilobite and squid fossils. It is purported to be an igneous rock, but it shows very clear signs of the effects of water. It is possible that the rock itself might be igneous, but it is covered with what appears to be vacuum dried mud and clay, in which the fossils are embedded. Because of how the vacuum drying process works, an igneous rock would not show signs of hydrolysis, a process that causes weathering and changes in a rocks chemical and mechanical structure.
Notice the wash areas (outlined in red) that lead away from Bounce Rock in all directions. This is a definite indicator of the action of liquid water. The water emerges from below Bounce Rock and wells up and out to create the runoff patterns.
This is a stereo view of Bounce Rock's geyser. It has sprayed recently, perhaps a day before. The soil is piled up at the upper edge, wet all around, and the deep, clear channel around the left point of the rock is very clear. Sand has been blown up and out from the vent, and looking at the upper edge, you can make out the lip of piled up sand that has resulted. This is a cross eyed stereo view.
Also exceedingly clear is the wet area at the top "shelf" of the rock. The soil is darker, the rock is darker, and the ground is cut away at the rock's left edge. Even the small rock fragments show darker soil in their lee sides, where the moisture is sheltered from evaporating right away.