I say the latter. I'll hazard a guess or two on what
Opportunity may find.

Layer upon layer of sedimentary rocks right to the bottom mudflat.
The remains of countless ice ages, waxing and waning, alternately
depositing soil and building rocks. Showing that Meridiani was a
shallow sea relentlessly ...filled in... by successive and alternating
periods of short-lived ice capped lakes, followed
by long periods of dormancy and soil building
as we see now.

An end stage ecosystem as Meridiani has been
filled in to the point that water can only exist
underground.

Will there be bacteria still clinging to exist safely hidden
beneath deeper outcrops a few feet into the crater wall?
Where some water occasionally melts out and to the floor
creating the numerous nearby sinkholes.

I think so! After all, nothing at Meridiani can be explained
only with geology. Everything at Meridiani can be explained
by life.





Jonathan


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