... oh, and if you thought the "Yeti" got the tin foil hat wearers excited, wait til they see this HR Giger beauty...

IMHO, this is one of the most important finds for opportunity so far. Why?

...Not because of the iron nickle meteorite. It's because the blueberries in the hollows appear to have been formed basically in place! That is an important clue as to the origin of the blueberries.

Like Antarctica, I'm willing to bet that this meteorite originally landed when a substantial layer of ice was near the surface. The now gone crater was in the ice. Aeolian forces spread dust from the atmosphere into the hollows. Interaction between the dust and the ice created the blueberries over a very long time. Wind eventually blew out the blueberries in the upper hollows. The blueberries in the lower hollows remained somewhat shielded and stayed basically in place. The ice sublimated and left the meteorite on the present surface.

This meteorite almost confirms the newest theory of the icy formation of the blueberries!...In My Humble Opinion. Of course we need a few tests before we accept this explanation, but I think it is a sound one.

Imaginative, to be sure, though I can't say I'm convinced.
What, pray tell, is the "newest theory of the icy formation of the blueberries"?
What "few tests" did you have in mind?

I don't suppose wind could have blown blueberries into the shallow depressions in the rock?

There is a part of pedestal visible on the lower left, the rest may be hidden under the ripple. Easier to see in this R721 image

It's interesting to see how differently people are interpreting this fascinating rock.

It clearly displays regmaglypts, but I doubt the deepest hollows can be explained as erosionally enhanced regmaglypts. I'm not sure it is appropriate to call them vesicles, either. I'm siding with a previous commenter who suggested that some hollows may be due to inclusions which subsequently corroded or eroded away. I think the deeper pits on the right side of the rock and the surrounding "filigree" features may be mostly primary structures.

It is interesting, however, that certain features seem to be aligned with the current wind regime in this region. I'm not sure how to interpret that. Has the morphology of this meteorite been shaped by recent winds on Mars, or is it due to the winds experienced by the intruder as it entered the atmosphere? If I had to interpret the morphology of this meteorite as being formed by its flight through the atmosphere, I'd suspect the leading edge was on the left.

Finally, regarding the pedestal, good catch, alan. A remnant like this is likely to protect a pedestal beneath it, but this most recently protected pedestal is not likely to have been the first pedestal this lagging boulder has perched upon.

I doubt that is possible given the atmosphere of Mars is too thin. Even if the atmosphere was tens times as thick when this meteorite landed, it would still be too thin to lift those berries vertically on top of the rock. The only plausible way I can think of is for the meteor having been buried and then excavated at a later date.

The simplest explanation is something similar to what I conjectured in my previous post. Certainly other things could have happened, but they would require a lot more complications. Perhaps other meteor strikes threw the berries onto this rock. But if that is the case, then explain why they are so uniform.

If you are unfamiliar with the icy formation theory, then I am surprised. It was all over the news. I don't have a link immediately handy; but I will look for one.

Here is one story that mentions it:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0902...m-mars-ice.html

Another more detailed story is in Nature but it is archived now and you have to have a subscription to view it.

There are others. I'll mention good links on the theory as I have an opportunity. (didn't mean to create a pun)

Here is a better one that explains more. I wish I could find the original paper on the topic.

http://www.universetoday.com/2009/02/16/ne...t-mars-equator/


(Three consecutive posts merged - ADMIN)

Fascinating...

Combine the fact that the axis of Mars has shifted many times in the past with this little tidbit...

http://www.universetoday.com/2007/12/20/ma...kept-mars-warm/

...and you have the makings of a possible viable alternative theory that incorporates water ice into the equation. It might also explain why the concretions don't grow beyond a certain size.

Sweet anaglyph, Stu!

BI is captivating, visually. That microcavern alone is crazy spectacular!

I literally wouldn't touch this side of it (if that was possible), though; all those shards look quite sharp & "snaggy".

(Me in spacesuit: "Ooo!!! Cool rock! <reaches out...> YEOW!"

Spacesuit: "Sssssssss.....")

Glad you liked the 3D view This really is a fascinating object. I think we may well be here for some time. I really am looking forward to seeing what the other side of BI looks like, and a peek underneath would be interesting too. In the meantime, here are the first MI images put together.

Very interesting object! And pretty too!
What cause the criss-cross linear features in the MI images? Some for of crystalization in the meteorite? Are these common?

Yeah, very good anaglyph Stu .

Here is an other view, a 4 frames mosaic showing the immediate surrounding of BI :


PS : happy to see that you appreciate my last pics .

Could Block Island be a mesosiderite (stony iron meteorite)? Yes they are rare, but that would explain much of what we see. Burial on impact, exposure to acidic groundwater, exhumation and eolian erosian producing yet another Mars mystery to ponder.

As the block island meteorite seems very similar to heat shield rock, the discussion regarding impact scenarios for HSR probably applies without much change. See this long Lunar and Planetary Science abstract for some detailed analysis, which comes to the conclusion that it must have come in at a pretty low angle to arrive in one piece, even in a range of martian atomospheres from today's thin version to a much thicker past version. So however recently it landed, it would have been expected to ricochet and not be near an impact feature from its initial hit.