"Joe Knapp" wrote in message
.com...

" George" wrote
Yes the spheres were pressed below the soil surface. That does not
necessarily mean that the hematite originated from the spheres. Why?
Also
note that the uppermost topsoil itself was disturbed. In addition, and
spectral analysis of the rock outcrop from which the spheres apparently
orginated was very low in hematite.

The relative cross-section of the spherules in the matrix facing the
camera
is about 2%. They are much more concentrated on the ground, particularly
in
oblique views.

The spherules tend to come out bluish when visible RGB images are
combined,
leading to the moniker "blueberries.: It's interesting to compare such a
composite to the hematite map produced by the TES.

http://www.copperas.com/astro/spheres_hem.jpg

It has been my understanding from reading the interviews of the project
scientists that they were referred to as blueberries because of their shape
and size, not because of their color. In addition, there is no way that you
can look at the picture you posted above and say that the blue color is due
to the spherules simply because you cannot even see then at that resolution.
On the other hand, you can look at this image and get a clearer view of the
color of the spherules.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rove...atural-med.jpg


The more red areas in the right image (hematite) tend to correspond to the
more blue areas in the left image (spherules). Conclusion: spherules =
hematite.

Here is a link to the TES data collected by the rover:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rove..._strip-med.jpg

The data is superimposed onto the panorama of the outcrop and edge of the
crater. If you will note that in the center of the image is the area of the
outcrop first examined by the rover. That area had a lot of spherules on
the ground around the outcrop (the outcrop referred to as "stone mountain"),
within the outcrop itself, and below and above it. Note that this area is
hematite-poor. And the outcrop itself was hematite-poor. For verification,
please note this image of the area I'm referring to:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rove...ontext-med.jpg

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...treach1_br.jpg

You should also note that there are very few images sent back by opportunity
of the soil in which the spherules were not present, yet there are large
areas that appear to be hematite-poor. As I've said before, I think is it
too early to say that the spherules are composed of hematite. Looking at
data brought back from Apollo 14, similar granular spherules were found at
that site that turned out to be composed largely of plagioclase. I think I
will wait for more data before reaching a firm conclusion regarding the
spherules.

Let's wait until they conduct the trenching and report on
their analytical results before we all make such pronouncements,
shall
we?

Now what fun would that be?

Joe


Well, we can all speculate all we want to, but my experience with
speculation is this: Don't assume, that way you won't make a fool out of
you and me! :-))