The phenomenon of sedimentary layers is remarkably similar to what is seen on Earth, in California's Death Valley or in Montana's Glacier National Park, says John Grotzinger, chief scientist of the Mars Science Laboratory mission.
The sample comes from a hole about 2.5 inches deep drilled on Feb. 8 in a flat plate of sedimentary bedrock that the space agency managers have named "John Klein" in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011.