Farewell Beacon..., The next cape beckons... |
Farewell Beacon..., The next cape beckons... |
Nov 26 2006, 03:58 AM
Post
#1
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1229 Joined: 24-December 05 From: The blue one in between the yellow and red ones. Member No.: 618 |
Wow! If I live to be a hundred, I'll never understand why we've sailed right on past the Beacon toward "Boat Ramp". I agree that the deepest exposures are the most important, but Beacon is the highest! It's sitting right there waiting for us. It's the top of the section. Whether it's composed of impact breccia or undisturbed laminated evaporite determines whether Victoria formed after or before the deposition of the upper Planitia Meridiani. I can't believe that is a trivial issue. It is a fundamental fact of Victoria's history.
-------------------- My Grandpa goes to Mars every day and all I get are these lousy T-shirts!
|
|
|
Nov 27 2006, 06:20 AM
Post
#2
|
|||
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2228 Joined: 1-December 04 From: Marble Falls, Texas, USA Member No.: 116 |
Shaka: I'll have to admit that I too was a bit surprised that they left the area so quickly, but it is true that they have a lot more spectral information on the rocks than we do at this point. I think we might be able to get a clue though, from the MIs taken of the RAT hole on Cape Verde. Granted, CSM is higher stratigraphically, but not that much. The MIs displayed several large berries embedded in the rock and shaved by the RAT. They are pretty confident in their model of these concretions having formed in sediment saturated by ground water, or what is usually called the phreatic zone. On the trip south Opportunity climbed stratigraphically and observed no berries and micro-berries at the highest points, which is consistent with that model.
The fact that they discovered large, embedded concretions in the rock here might suggest that these rocks came from the section that we have already seen. I must point out a serious flaw in this argument before someone else does. You would expect the surface rocks there to be ejecta, so they likely were derived from deeper layers. But now that I think about it, perhaps a better argument fro leaving would be that it appears that CSM is also mantled in ejecta, so what is the point of wasting time there? Better to move on and learn more about deeper, intact layers. Jeff7: Some of us think those dark streaks were formed by the removal of light colored dust rather than dark dust deposition. So, it may be a good place to go for Opportunity's solar panels. I hope we can observe something on the soil as Opportunity passes bay B1, to allow us to determine whether the streaks are due to erosion or deposition. As long as I am going off topic, here is the drive direction panorama from sol 1009, as I was able to stitch it. -------------------- ...Tom
I'm not a Space Fan, I'm a Space Exploration Enthusiast. |
||
|
|||
Nov 27 2006, 06:31 AM
Post
#3
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 48 Joined: 26-August 05 Member No.: 475 |
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 27th September 2024 - 03:01 AM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |