The researchers will monitor the growth of this vegetation around newly formed thermokarst features and use experimental field plots to test how conditions mimicking such features affect which species will thrive.

ECONOMIST: Global warming and the permafrost

"Part of understanding Mount Sharp is understanding the context around it and some of the features that have formed on the plains where we're at, " Vasavada said.

CNN: Mars rover could start moving in a week

By Martian standards, these gullies appear to be young, since some of them have eroded features such as meteoritic craters that are known to have formed relatively recently.

ECONOMIST: Martian chronicles