Rovers on Mars

Very interesting looking little pebbles...

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/02/04/rover.halted.ap/index.html

Looks like stuff you might see on a beach or something. Two of the pebbles seem to be semispherical with little pock marks at top dead center. If this type of pebble form is common, they might be spash forms from shock melted rock (impact crater formation).

One can see what one wants to see, at this moment.

I know Satt, and thanks for keeping me centered.

At the moment I'm just enjoying letting my imagination run free. But in the end, I like you, will be satisfied with nothing less than clinical evidence and deduction.

But for now...

thats what theyre doing at the JPL. Everybody throws in ideas and they truth em. "Multiple Hypotheses" gets things done. Often a correct analysis comes from an imperfect observation. Never be afraid of giving ideas, if they seem realistic. theyere gonna need higher resolution and some in-situ samples to see whether youre correct.

Good point Farmerman. I knew we could come up with a good excuse for having fun if we tried They must be having a lot fun at JPL over this stuff. I wish I was there.

So what *do* you think about that micro Photo Farmerman. Putting aside for a moment the more extravagant possiblities, those pebbles and shards do look a bit unusual, though it's hard to say exactly why.

There seems to be a fine under layer of dust, strewn with a larger type of debris. And the larger forms include semi-spheres and what appear to be holes and dents (also semi-circular in shape). There are also shapes that look like shards, but with "holes" in them.

Any ideas?

Sorry rosborne, but there seems to be much garbage on Mars.

the background has a windborne dust look , composition needs to be confirmed but there will be a lot of iron , my guess is that its a basaltic or even more
basic rock thats been eroded. The wee pebbles are still too unclear. That round thing on the top right , is that a
calibration disk or is it part of the pebble assemblage?
Im surprised at the colors, its waht we call leukocratic rock (lots of white stuff) like quartz? or feldspar? A lot of the particles appear to be wind scoured like "desert varnish".
Those pics that satt posted look like a series of common mins we see in desert areas like gypsum, which can precip in a past supersat solution undergraound. The xls in and around some dry desert lakebeds have gypsum and sodium carbonate precip at depth, then they get uncovered.

Of course those could be scraps of candy wrappers from the sound stage where all this is really happening (grin)

Yeh, so what's your point?

Are you implying that the things in that microphoto are pieces of debris from the spacecraft?

I'm pretty sure those pics that Satt posted are scraps of material from the lander.

As to whether or not that round thing in the microphoto is a calibration marker, I don't know, but I assumed it was part of the natural pebble material on the surface, but I could be wrong.

Farmerman,

There is a term in geology for the (now hardened) spherical beads of shock melted material blown into an atmosphere after an asteroid impact. But I can't remember what that term is, do you know?

This sometimes happens with volcano's as well. If the molten material is small enough, it forms spherical droplets in the atmosphere and then hardens before hitting the ground. I think you sometimes get little molten glass beads from this, but I can't remember what they're called.

I think I remember hearing about these things when watching a PBS show on asteroid impacts a few years ago.

Best Regards,

Oops, just found this: http://www.agu.org/revgeophys/claeys00/node4.html

I think they're called Microtektites

tektites are uusually subspheroidal with a lot of color. They are usually incorporated into some sediments as circular "strewn fields" They are mappable over large areas and preserve the circular patterns. . The stuff we see from rover lies atop the soil. and is highly leukocratic. It could be as simple as separation of particles by wind.

Yes, Mars is home to some raging dust storms, and its surface has been exposed (without organic degradation) for eons. Microtektites could be all over the place.

Microtektites


Micro Images in B&W:

Just foung this: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/sci/fifthconf99/6039.pdf

I guess Microtektites are expected on Mars.

You see the shapes and the dark colors of the tektites in your second pic. These dont look anything like the ones on the mars surface. Ive looked at the pics again, too blanched looking, more like selenite or felspar cleavages.

Is the Mars MicroPic color? I thought it was B&W?

But you're correct that there are a whole lot of other things it could be.

But watch out for those Macrotektites.

yes theyre b/W thats why I was comparing them to the B/w pic you displayed of the B/W tektites. The only one that even looks Tektitish in our rover pic is that round glob in the top right corner.
Unless these little rocks are windblasted, I dont see the mass of them as tektites. multiple hypotheses remeber? I wish we could get some better shots

Satt and EBrown will just kill me for these ...

Nannofossil Ooze
Planktonic Foraminiferal Ooze

Oolites from Great Salt Lake, UT

This site is kinda fun. It's about sand: http://www.paccd.cc.ca.us/instadmn/physcidv/geol_dp/dndougla/SAND/SANDHP.htm