The next step is to try to staunch the flow proper with drilling mud, a mixture of water and clay minerals.
They work by pouring a mixture of clay and water, called slip, into them and letting the clay set into the shape.
BBC: 'Aladdin's cave' of Middleport pottery moulds being moved
For the most part, the tar sands consist of quartzite, clay, and water.
Having high expectations for even huge numbers of seeds to sprout when thrown on untilled land or clay, without any water, is probably going to lead to disappointment.
In creating his "fungus accretion" vases, Simon brushed the rough surface of a ceramic vase with a clay-and-water solution until it built upon itself like a hand-dripped sand castle.
WSJ: The Wonder Twins of the Design World: Nikolai and Simon Haas | Designers
The scientists said the locale was almost certainly a primordial lake bed, rich in clay minerals, where the water many eons ago wasn't too salty or alkaline for life to thrive.
Their catfish are raised in clay-based ponds filled with purified water pumped from underground wells.
But here's the catch: Clay minerals are easily dissolved in acidic water.
The sample had between 20% to 30% of a type of clay called smectite, which forms in the presence of water, Blake said.
Dubbed Mount Sharp, it appears to be an unusual layer-cake of clay and other sedimentary deposits that may be relics of ancient water flows and organic chemistry.
Therefore, a puff of water appearing on a Martian sample cooked to that temperature would imply that it is partly made of clay.
For instance, Mawrth Vallis, one of the largest identified clay-rich regions on the Red Planet, exhibits a more uniform mineralogy pattern that indicates water was much more closely tied to surface processes on the planet.
MSN: New proof that water existed underground on ancient Mars
Over a two-year experiment, we saw that there was a change in the soil structure as a result of a wetting and drying of the soil in clay-rich soils, and that can increase the amount of structure and hence storage of water.
The use of new clay technology is being used on the Norfolk Broads for the first time to reduce algae growth and improve water quality.
BBC: Norfolk Broads: Clay technology 'aids How Hill reserve'
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