Exploring Mt Sharp north of the dunes - Part 1: Beyond Pahrump Hills, Site 45-50, Sol 923-1147, March 12-October 28, 2015 |
Exploring Mt Sharp north of the dunes - Part 1: Beyond Pahrump Hills, Site 45-50, Sol 923-1147, March 12-October 28, 2015 |
Mar 12 2015, 08:38 PM
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Finally drove away from Pahrump Hills on sol 923. Wheel tracks sure are piling up at the end of the drive -- there seems to have been quite a bit of slip.
[admin note: I was going to start a new thread for this, but realized our thread naming may be a bit out of whack because we're really not journeying to Mt Sharp anymore, are we? We'll discuss it with admins and I'll move/rename posts when we figure out our naming schema.] -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Apr 9 2015, 05:48 PM
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#2
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 58 Joined: 9-April 15 Member No.: 7433 |
Regarding the veins and the fractures, the thing Im trying to understand is this:
These vein outcrops occur near the lower elevations of this large crater, Mt Sharp and the Rims being anywhere form 2 to 3.5 miles higher in elevation. Its now widely accepted that where Curiosity is exploring was under water far longer than previously estimated, and then that water slowly evaporated, leaving behind layered sedimentary rock layers and other tell-tale signs of long periods of a "shallow sea". So, if these veins are the result of minerals precipitating under high pressure, then this would mean these veins formed under Several Kilometers of overburden...and now they are been exposed due to "erosion" the questions are: a) Being near the bottom of Gale crate, rather than the top, where did the KM's of rock and overburden erode to? Erosion goes downhill, there isnt anywhere for KM's to have eroded to, The crater prevents excavation of sediment outside of the rim (thus all erosion remains inside the crater) - and There is clear evidence of surface water at this location, and that it was under water at different shallow depths for perhaps billions of years...so, that situation in effect negates the overburden hypothesis, because again, the surface water action evidence is side-by-side with the veins. Is it more possible this is non-pressure related, and more ancient heat/hydrothermal in nature? If we accept Mars has been pretty dry for the last Billion years, then we are seeing something that had been roughly the same for a billion years...those flaky paper-thin wafer of rock resting in position where they are well above the surface show the wind load isnt enough to move them...so certainly not KM of overburden were removed simply by wind. Im thinking Non Terrestrial erosion and mineralization mechanisms need to be considered...Mars has no Techtonic plates, and less water no matter how long it existing, and 2/5th the gravity, meaning erosion forces far less than earth... Id love to hear some thesis on how these veins are so near the surface - thx. |
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Apr 9 2015, 06:56 PM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2173 Joined: 28-December 04 From: Florida, USA Member No.: 132 |
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