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Meridiani soil close-ups
Some of the raw microscopic imager photos from Opportunity of the soil
at the Meridiani Planum site are at: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...nity_m010.html http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...nity_m009.html Take a look at those spheres and tubes! If this is where the hematite is, there is going to be a buttload of discussion on their genesis. Some these things look like spring or travertine features, although I've also seen pisolites and speleothem-like features that look like these objects in very mature soil carbonate horizons that have been brecciated and reactivated. By the way, many soil and spring features that look like this on earth involve algae or bacteria. Maybe we are looking at pieces of a broken up and redistributed iron pan horizon in a soil? Maybe a shallow soil horizon that has been wind-eroded? -- Tim Demko http://www.d.umn.edu/~tdemko |
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Meridiani soil close-ups
Timothy Demko wrote:
Some of the raw microscopic imager photos from Opportunity of the soil at the Meridiani Planum site are at: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...nity_m010.html http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...nity_m009.html Take a look at those spheres and tubes! If this is where the hematite is, there is going to be a buttload of discussion on their genesis. Some these things look like spring or travertine features, although I've also seen pisolites and speleothem-like features that look like these objects in very mature soil carbonate horizons that have been brecciated and reactivated. By the way, many soil and spring features that look like this on earth involve algae or bacteria. Maybe we are looking at pieces of a broken up and redistributed iron pan horizon in a soil? Maybe a shallow soil horizon that has been wind-eroded? I was having a look at the Pathfinder section of the JPL website yesterday, to see what science conclusions they had come to. As far as I can tell, scientists are virtually certain that the jumble of rocks and sediment seen in Pathfinder's images were deposited there by a catastrophic flood event somewhere between 1 and 3 billion years ago, but that since then, very little change has occurred. If the same applies to the Meridiani site (that it's extremely old), is it possible that the fine 'soil' at that location is accumulated fallout from meteorite impacts? I'm wondering if the presence of at least some atmosphere on Mars would mean that larger bodies of rock ejected from such impacts would land first, with smaller particles being more affected by air resistance and come down a bit later, so ending up with just the finest material on top. It seems odd to me that the material in this crater (and on the horizon?) has such a smooth surface, unlike the Viking, Pathfinder and Spirit sites. Given that the atmosphere is very thin, would the wind be able to blow particles around enough to fill the crater with this smooth layer of material? Or is it possible that this material was deposited under water, since the crater was formed? Sorry for all the questions :-) |
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