NASA's curiosity rover has been doing an excellent job from the time it landed on the red planet, though it had troubles on the Martian surface it still managed to take some rare pictures. Recently the rover has photographed shallow crevices that may have formed from ancient mud cracks.

The pictures were taken on a Martian rock slab called "Old Soaker" on Mount Sharp, it appears that these cracks were formed from a mud layer more than 3 billion years ago. This has not been the first time something similar was found, previously the curiosity rover captured evidence of ancient lakes in rock layers that were low as per Space.

This could possibly mean that Mars might have had water billions of years ago, but the recent photographs are believed to be the first evidence of ancient mud cracks. Scientist's call it the desiccation cracks as it is a result of wetting and drying cycles.

These cracks suggest that the planet had a watery ancient past. Nathan Stein, a graduate student from California Institute of Technology led the investigation of the "Old Soaker." He stated that a pattern of four and five sided polygons were seen even from a distance. The pattern on the "Old Soaker" looks like a muddy ground which once had water has dried up and cracked as per Otto Radio.

The curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada, said the ancient lakes varied in depth and extent overtime. The team has been witnessing more evidence of dry intervals between records of long lived lakes.

Scientists have also found further evidence on interspersed layers of sandstone and mudstone. These patterns could have formed where water was once flowing possibly near a shore or lake. Where there is water there will be life and there are chances that Mars might have had water before, unfortunately it's too far to go back in time. With further research scientists might be able to arrive at new conclusions.

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