[X] My Assistant

[TheAnt]

They are pretty spherical, but they seem to be embedded differently from what we've seen with blueberries...?

I tend to agree that it look somewhat different, lets hear what any of our semi-pro's think.

Perhaps it is so charborob, yet look at this navcam image
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportuni...M5P1961L0M3.JPG

The lighter material at left, might be the same as we see at center bottom and in the lower right corner. Those two latter ones might just be less wind eroded.

[mhoward]

Amazing stuff. This is the view west and 20º down.

The "melt"-like stuff reminds me of that one small crater Opportunity explored some months before getting to Endeavour. I'm blanking on the name at the moment. But of course it may be completely different. This looks more like it's part of the rock.

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[centsworth_II]

...The "melt"-like stuff reminds me of that one small crater Opportunity explored some months before getting to Endeavour.

Maybe you're thinking of these: "Oppy has finished her studies of the Chocolate Hills, and has moved off to the left, resuming her circumnavigation of Concepcion Crater."
Farewell, Chocolate Hills…

But remember, that was melt in Meridiani sulfate rock and we're hoping this is something else.

[Stu]

A couple of MI mosaics...





We really need a "shakes head in wonder" icon...

[ngunn]

They are pretty spherical

. . but range widely in size and seem to like splitting in half. Interesting times.

[dvandorn]

I believe we established quite a while ago that hematite concretions like the blueberries are resistant to melting. This looks like breccia with partially broken-up concretions as the clasts within the breccia. The matrix appears quite uniform.

My best guess is that there were concretions in the soil when the Endeavour impact occurred, and what we see here is impact melt that gathered up the unmelted concretions in the debris cloud as it cooled, making it impact melt breccia with concretion clasts.

In other words, it's blueberry muffin rock.

-the other Doug

[john_s]

Those MIs are astonishing- so fabulous to see something so radically new from a nearly 9-year-old rover! I'm betting against blueberries- these rocks, and the pre-exisiting rocks they might have been derived from in the Endeavour impact, are much older than the blueberry-containing formations so it's perhaps unlikely that they would also have contained blueberries. These guys tend to have resistant outer shells, which I don't think I've ever seen in blueberries (though on oDoug's hypothesis, maybe the outer layers were melted and hardened in the impact?).

I'm betting on these being tektite-like spheres of glassy impact melt...

John

[mhoward]

A couple quick color anaglyphs

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[centsworth_II]

My best guess is that there were concretions in the soil when the Endeavour impact occurred...

If that's the case they were formed long before the sulfate layer blueberries we are used to seeing and under different circumstances.

[nprev]

What the heck...??!?!! (And, Stu, brilliant work; thanks!!!)

I think that they pretty much have to be blueberries, albeit perhaps of a different vintage than we are used to. They didn't get a chance to get very much larger.

Perhaps a significant clue to the history of the Endeavour impact site.

[Stu]

What the hell...??!?!! (And, Stu, brilliant work; thanks!!!)

Thanks, Nick. You liked that..?

You'll love this...

[CosmicRocker]

Beautiful mosaic.

These appear very different from the blubes we're accustomed to seeing. Glassy impact spherules would be my best guess, too, after seeing the MIs.

We're still missing the R5 filters, so I can't do a hematite image yet.

[dburt]

These somewhat resemble devitrification spherulites (a type of spherule) that form during the localized crystallization of water-bearing glass, although the glass involved is usually more silica-rich (e.g., obsidian) than what was likely the case here. Such spherules can be hollow on the inside, owing to steam released during crystallization; large hollows are called lithophysae. (Many years ago I did much field and theoretical work on lithophysae containing gem topaz.) Spherulites can be more resistant to erosion than the rapidly altering remnant glass that surrounds them. Just another possibility to add to those already suggested.

[Explorer1]

Is that a glint of sunlight on one of the nodules near the top center (of Stu's pan), or just an artifact?
What a place!

[akuo]

What? Another type of spherule in Meridiani? This is just too much. Oppy has clearly been out of the limelight too long, they need to hold another press conference and get Steve there to explain it all.