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mud·stone | \ ˈməd-ˌstōn 
\
\Definition of mudstone
: an indurated shale produced by the consolidation of mud
Examples of mudstone in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web The rover will range widely, performing science experiments and occasionally drilling small cores of mudstones and other rocks that could hold signs of ancient life.
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Daniel Clery, Science | AAAS, "Bold space mission to bring back rocks from Mars takes shape," 21 Nov. 2019 To reach pockets of coal, the drill passed through about a third of a mile of sandstone, mudstone, and hundreds of yards of permafrost.
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Juliana Hanle, Scientific American, "The Fight for the Reindeer," 18 Nov. 2019 In June 2018, organic matter was found on Mars in soil samples taken from 3 billion-year-old mudstone in the Gale crater by the Curiosity rover.
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Ashley Strickland, CNN, "Curiosity rover detects highest levels of methane on Mars," 24 June 2019 Parts of the bluffs are made of robust mudstone, but other sections are precarious, such as those filled with loose materials when the railroad was first constructed.
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Joshua Emerson Smith, San Diego Union-Tribune, "Senate leader Atkins secures funding to stabilize crumbling Del Mar cliffs," 14 June 2019 And so Curiosity drove on to the base of Mount Sharp and sampled some of the mudstones (a rock that formed from muds and clays) found there.
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Eric Berger, Ars Technica, "Finally, scientists have found intriguing organic molecules on Mars," 7 June 2018 Samples of ancient mudstone yielded a diversity of organic molecules in SAM’s oven—and in a separate study, five years’ worth of atmospheric samples gathered by SAM tracked fluctuating levels of methane that peaked in the Martian summer.
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Adam Mann, Scientific American, "Curiosity Rover Uncovers Long-Sought Organic Materials on Martian Surface," 7 June 2018 The first study found several new organic compounds in samples of ancient Martian mudstone that is roughly three billion years old, while the second charted seasonal fluctuations of one of the most basic organic compounds: methane.
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Jay Bennett, Popular Mechanics, "Chasing Signs of Life, Curiosity Rover Discovers Organic Building Blocks on Mars," 7 June 2018 Because ultraviolet radiation and oxidizing compounds in the martian soil would destroy any compounds exposed at the surface, Curiosity's scientists used a robotic drill to penetrate several centimeters into the mudstone.
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Paul Voosen, Science | AAAS, "NASA rover hits organic pay dirt on Mars," 7 June 2018
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'mudstone.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for mudstone
The first known use of mudstone was circa 1736
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