"Carsten Troelsgaard" wrote in message
k...

" George" skrev i en meddelelse
. ..

snip

Hahahahahahaha!!! Sorry, I couldn't help but laugh. What you are
looking
at are spheres in various stages of mechanical decomposition. They are
inorganic mineraloids, dude.

Do you have to, George?


Yes, I do. :-)

snip

I can't help but think
the soil, spheres and smooth flowing terrain around Opportunity is a
result
of underground water or ice.

Well, there is certainly no evidence one way or another for that idea.

I have seen pictures of massive landslides that grades into what look like
a
fluidized flow. To consider water and ice involved does not pose a problem
to me.

Carsten


But we see the same phenomenon in landslides in desert regions on the earth.
There is evidence that some large landslides will behave as a fluid due to
the creation of a layer of compressed air between the landslide material and
the ground upon which it is sliding. Such a layer acts like a lubricant
that reduces friction, and will allow the slide to behave as a fluid. In the
case of Mars, the air would consist of the CO2 atmosphere. Now, I am not
saying that water doesn't exist on Mars. Obviously it does, at least at the
poles. And of course, we have all seen some evidence that there may be
ground water, and/or frozen water in the subsurface. What I am saying is
that there are other explanations for the fluid appearance of these
landslides on Mars.