Mars not so Red After All

Cores taken on Mars, courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

News reports describe how the Mars Curiosity rover has found evidence of an ancient lake on Mars. What stands out to me is this photo of the drill core taken from the apparent ancient lake-bed. It clearly shows the red iron oxide of Mars lies only along a thin layer of the surface. Granted, this is just one spot, but it's a spot declared to be the bottom of a lake that was supposed to have been around for millions of years. Amidst all the talk of Mars having liquid water for millions of years, no one even poses the question of how the water could lay there for millions of years and never seep any deeper than a few inches below the surface. Could it be that the water was only there for a short span of time before it evaporated into space? That's the scenario I explore in my novel, Beyond Earth.