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Look What Mars Rover Curiosity Found.....Spheres!
Much like the countless fields of spherical blueberries found by the Opportunity rover at Meridiani, the new Curiosity Rover at Hale Crater just stumbled into a dune, coated by a layer of....guess what? Opportunity Rover at Meridiani Navigation Camera Sol 152 http://areo.info/mer/opportunity/152...5L7L7.jpg.html MSL Curiosity Hand Lens Imager Sol 58 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-ima...000E1_DXXX.jpg http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-ima...000E1_DXXX.jpg Sol 60 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multime...00E1_DXXX&s=65 Sol 66 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multime...01E1_DXXX&s=66 Sol 67 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multime...00E1_DXXX&s=67 Left Navigation Camera Sol 66 http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multime...AM00326M_&s=66 MSL All Raw Images http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/ |
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Look What Mars Rover Curiosity Found.....Spheres!
The candy wrapper is easy to explain. The Russians already sent
someone there and never bothered to tell anyone about it. As for the soil, it looks just like that found in any median strip in Yuma. Bret Cahill |
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Look What Mars Rover Curiosity Found.....Spheres!
"Bret Cahill" wrote in message ... The candy wrapper is easy to explain. The Russians already sent someone there and never bothered to tell anyone about it. As for the soil, it looks just like that found in any median strip in Yuma. Funny you should say that.... Microphytic Soil Crusts and Desert Ecosystems Communities of micro-organisms create crusts on soils throughout semi-arid and arid regions of the world. These microphytic (also called cryptogamic) crusts are formed when all or some of a diverse array of photosynthetic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), fungi, bacteria, lichens and mosses, bind together with inorganic particles in the first few millimeters of a soil. Microphytic crusts are dominant feature in desert soils; they are estimated to represent approximately 70% of desert soil biomass world wide http://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=30286 An Introduction to Biological Soil Crusts In more arid regions, vegetative cover is generally sparse. Open spaces are usually covered by biological soil crusts, a highly specialized community of cyanobacteria, mosses, and lichens (Figure 1). Biological soil crusts are commonly found in semiarid and arid environments throughout the world. Areas in the United States where crusts are a prominent feature of the landscape include the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, Sonoran Desert, and the inner Columbia Basin. Crusts are also found in agricultural areas, native prairies, and Alaska (Figure 2). Outside the United States, crusts have been studied in the Antarctic, Australia, and Israel, among other locations. In fact, microbiotic crusts have been found on all continents and in most habitats, leaving few areas crust-free. What's the right name? Biological soil crusts are also known as cryptogamic, microbiotic, cryptobiotic, and microphytic crusts, leading to some confusion. The names are all meant to indicate common features of the organisms that compose the crusts. The most inclusive term is probably biological soil crust, as this distinguishes them from physical crusts without limiting the crust components to plants. Whatever name used, there remains an important distinction between these formations and physical or chemical crusts. Biological soil crusts are formed by living organisms and their by-products, creating a crust of soil particles bound together by organic materials. Chemical and physical crusts are inorganic features such as a salt crust or platy surface crust, often formed by trampling. http://www.soilcrust.org/crust101.htm Bret Cahill |
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Look What Mars Rover Curiosity Found.....Spheres!
The candy wrapper is easy to explain. *The Russians already sent
someone there and never bothered to tell anyone about it. As for the soil, it looks just like that found in any median strip in Yuma. Funny you should say that.... Microphytic Soil Crusts and Desert Ecosystems Communities of micro-organisms create crusts on soils throughout semi-arid and arid regions of the world. These microphytic (also called cryptogamic) crusts are formed when all or some of a diverse array of photosynthetic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), fungi, bacteria, lichens and mosses, bind together with inorganic particles in the first few millimeters of a soil. Microphytic crusts are dominant feature in desert soils; they are estimated to represent approximately 70% of desert soil biomass world widehttp://www.123helpme.com/view.asp?id=30286 An Introduction to Biological Soil Crusts In more arid regions, vegetative cover is generally sparse. Open spaces are usually covered by biological soil crusts, a highly specialized community of cyanobacteria, mosses, and lichens (Figure 1). Biological soil crusts are commonly found in semiarid and arid environments throughout the world. Areas in the United States where crusts are a prominent feature of the landscape include the Great Basin, Colorado Plateau, Sonoran Desert, and the inner Columbia Basin. Crusts are also found in agricultural areas, native prairies, and Alaska (Figure 2). Outside the United States, crusts have been studied in the Antarctic, Australia, and Israel, among other locations. In fact, microbiotic crusts have been found on all continents and in most habitats, leaving few areas crust-free. What's the right name? Biological soil crusts are also known as cryptogamic, microbiotic, cryptobiotic, and microphytic crusts, leading to some confusion. The names are all meant to indicate common features of the organisms that compose the crusts. The most inclusive term is probably biological soil crust, as this distinguishes them from physical crusts without limiting the crust components to plants. Whatever name used, there remains an important distinction between these formations and physical or chemical crusts. Biological soil crusts are formed by living organisms and their by-products, creating a crust of soil particles bound together by organic materials. Chemical and physical crusts are inorganic features such as a salt crust or platy surface crust, often formed by trampling.http://www.soilcrust.org/crust101.htm Once the desert "pavement" is gone the resulting dust storms are very destructive to machinery as well as lungs. Tucson has very few dust storms. Sen. Feinstein probably saw _one_ dust storm and then and there decided to make the Mojave a national park. Bret Cahill |
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Look What Mars Rover Curiosity Found.....Spheres!
"Bret Cahill" wrote in message ... Once the desert "pavement" is gone the resulting dust storms are very destructive to machinery as well as lungs. Tucson has very few dust storms. Sen. Feinstein probably saw _one_ dust storm and then and there decided to make the Mojave a national park. That leads to another interesting question, Mars has dust storms too, and dust devils and so on. We're looking at a delicate dune made of soft clay-like soil, crusted over with a thin layer of very small pebbles. If the dune has a crust, it can't be migrating around like just any sand dune. How long would you expect that crusted dune to last on Mars? Or how long would it take for that crust to form? http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-ima...CAM00326M_.JPG Bret Cahill |
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