Bye Bye Blueberries Options

[Burmese]

According to Steve Squyres' latest journal entry, Opportunity is now seeing virtually -no- blueberries in the surface matrix anymore.

"...On top of that, Opportunity has stumbled onto something really new and different lately... the blueberries seem to be gone!..."

And a theory:

"But one possible guess at this point is that we have moved "up section" in geologic terms -- to rocks that are higher up in this stack of layered sediments -- and that the rocks at this level never experienced the concretion-forming process. It's an interesting hypothesis with interesting implications, and it's also one that could explain a few other odd things we've been thinking about ever since Eagle crater"

Looks like Oppy will stop for some intense IDD work in the next day or so.

[Bill Harris]

Erebus may be up section, but OTOH, it may be down section. Or we may be "across section", looking at a facies change. We're trying to figure out a complex geology on what is essentially an initial walk-though of the site. But those guys in the left seat have prioritized getting to Mogollon and this feature is not a big enough blip to warrant several Sols of IDD work. I think that the "roadcut" at Mogollon will answer a lot of these questions.

Darned if they do, darned if they don't. When they stop and do a scratch-and-sniff at every interesting rock, we clamor go, go, go to Erebus; when they get going, we say stop, stop, look at that.

The Blueberries are a mystery wrapped in an enigma. My first thought at Eagle crater was "tektites or lapilli". Then it looked like they were a lag weathered out of hematite concretions in an erodable evaporite. But there are so many questions about their genesis and distribution that we'll have to wait for more pieces of this puzzle. The organic source noted by Bruce has great merit.

--Bill

[Tesheiner]

Darned if they do, darned if they don't.  When they stop and do a scratch-and-sniff at every interesting rock, we clamor go, go, go to Erebus; when they get going, we say stop, stop, look at that.

I agree 100%.