Astronomy current events question: petrified martian sand dunes

Astronomy 210L, fall semester 2015
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students are assigned to read online articles on current astronomy events, and take a short current events quiz during the first 10 minutes of lab. (This motivates students to show up promptly to lab, as the time cut-off for the quiz is strictly enforced!)

Guy Webster, Dwayne Brown, Laurie Cantillo, "Mars Panorama from Curiosity Shows Petrified Sand Dunes" (September 11, 2015)
jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2015-296

Images of large-scale sandstone patterns taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover appear to be characteristic of petrified:
(A) riverbeds.
(B) algae mats.
(C) bacterial colonies.
(D) glacier ice.
(E) sand dunes.

Correct answer: (E)

Student responses
Sections 70178, 70186
(A) : 5 students
(B) : 2 students
(C) : 2 students
(D) : 3 students
(E) : 20 students