Looks Like The Driest Place On Mars |
Looks Like The Driest Place On Mars |
Feb 2 2006, 07:01 PM
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#1
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Member Group: Members Posts: 531 Joined: 24-August 05 Member No.: 471 |
- http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2006/02/02/ - Broken Plain
--- This Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows polygonally patterned ground on the floor of a trough in the southern hemisphere of Mars. The polygons could be an indicator that ground ice is or was present at this location. The dark streaks were formed by passing dust devils. --- -------------------- - blue_scape / Nico -
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Feb 2 2006, 08:23 PM
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#2
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 63 Joined: 4-May 05 Member No.: 378 |
QUOTE (Richard Trigaux @ Feb 2 2006, 03:14 PM) If you speak of the boulders visible half-way of the gullies, I think that simply the gullies (and all the slope) were cut through several layers, one of these would give boulders and the others not. This, I think, has nothing to do with glaciations. (but the presence of gullies could). Sorry Richard, my question could have been better phrased: What processes on Mars would lead to a layer of boulders like this? Steve -------------------- Popper: A party entertainment, filled with confetti and a small explosive charge.
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Guest_Richard Trigaux_* |
Feb 2 2006, 08:42 PM
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#3
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Guests |
QUOTE (stevo @ Feb 2 2006, 08:23 PM) Sorry Richard, my question could have been better phrased: What processes on Mars would lead to a layer of boulders like this? Steve Many. It looks like there are at least three different horizontal parallel layers in this ground. A harder one gave boulders, the others not, because they were more fragile, or basically of a sandy or powdery structure. The two possibilities to have multiple parallel horizontal layers are : -sedimentary deposits (in a large body of water, but wind can sometimes do the job) -multiple lava layers, eventualy hard ones (plain flows) or more fragile ones (ash deposits). The second possibility is much more common on Mars, but we cannot exclude the first. And on this photo we cannot known. Perhaps some Mars specialists better know the context of this image and may have more accurate answers. |
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Feb 3 2006, 12:57 PM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
Steve and Richard:
I see more than four layers, and evidence of repeated (though brief) 'flood' events ('flood' because it doesn't *have* to be water, though we *are* looking at fluidised material as the cause of the gullying). Towards the lower right of the image are to be seen alluvial fans, small islands, and typical wadi structures - this has all been going on for a long time. At the top of the image, below the gullies, are also the remains of previous flows, including a bluff which has resisted the flow to some extent. Again, not a crater - though I'd expect that there's lots of dusty sand, which would eat craters over time. Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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