NASA’s Curiosity rover has captured images of sand dunes present on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp on Mars. The geometry and orientation of the crossbedding give clues of the wind direction that produced it, Click On Detroit reports.

It has a huge structure called crossbedding that the team has interpreted as deposits of sand dunes formed by the wind. Petrified sand dunes that appear to be very physically similar are a common occurrence in the U.S. Southwest.

One of the researchers, Mr Waring made the remarks after seeing the above photo taken by NASA’s Curiosity Rover – but can you spot the alleged alien life form?

Stimson unit is present over a layer of mudstone, which was deposited on the place long ago. Curiosity Mars rover has been examining successively higher and younger layers of Mount Sharp, first beginning with the mudstone at the mountain’s base, for evidence about changes in the area’s ancient environment.

Curiosity has so far traveled about 103 yards (94 meters) southward in the weeks following its August 27 exploration.

Later this month, NASA plans to use Curiosity to drill into the Stimson unit and analyze some of the sandstone, hopefully learning something about Mars’ geographic past.

Curiosity has been working on Mars since early August 2012. The explorer has reached the foot of Mount Sharp past year following a successful investigation of Martian outcrops near its landing site and then making its way to the rocky mountain. John Bridges, a member of the rover team from the University of Leicester, England, said, “The team is considering where to drill next within the Stimson sandstone and we are looking for the best light tones areas to check for mineralogical signs of water-rock reaction”.

According to NASA researchers, the sandstone formation is part of a layer of Martian soil that they have designated the Stimson unit.