20 replies to this topic

[goodgodno]

What an interesting looking rock!  Will be interesting to hear what the experts come up with.  My suggestions would be either a conglomerate of some sort (30% pebbles, 70% silt) which has become metamorphosed, and subseuqently eroded or a very complicated dike structure (unlike any I have seen before), the outcrops of which have become eroded.

[goodgodno]

Example of multiple dikes:

[bison]

The Cape York area of the Western rim of the Endeavour crater, where these peculiar spheres were found, is dominated by basalt, a dark, iron-rich, volcanic mineral. It's interesting to note that about the first thing they checked for in the spheres was their iron content, presumably because the previously known spheres, known as 'blueberries', are high in iron. The new spheres were found to be quite low in iron, which appears to rule out both the sedimentary concretions (blueberries) and basalt.
     There is a general absence of metamorphic rock on the surface of Mars, due to the shutting down of plate tectonics that would bring it to the surface, about a billion years ago. The planet had lost most of its internal heat by then, which is necessary to drive this process.

Edited by bison, 18 September 2012 - 02:27 AM.

[Parsec]

bison, on 17 September 2012 - 12:19 AM, said:

The cases of Mars and Saturn's moon Titan are not comparable. The latter spends most of its time within the powerful magnetic field of Saturn, and so, is sheltered from the solar wind. Mars, which does not have a significant magnet field appears to have had most of its atmosphere eroded fairly early on, by energetic particles from the Sun.
   In order for there to have been oceans and other bodies of water on Mars, there must have been a substantial atmosphere at the same time, otherwise, liquid water could not have  existed on the surface. It is not at all clear that these conditions prevailed long enough to foster the evolution of relatively complex, egg-laying life forms. One the other hand, bacteria might well have been able to live and adapt to the severe conditions, and even persist today. The odds seem to strongly favor simple forms of life on Mars, past and present, instead of complex ones.
If the scientists are not able to devise a geological explanation for the spheres, they may be forced to consider a biological one. I still think that there is a reasonable chance that this is what could happen in the near future.

You're absolutely right bison, but that's true today. We don't know (or maybe I don't, in this case I'll be pleased to be corrected) how long lasted and when the magnetic field of Mars became so weak: it could have lasted enough to allow the right conditions for a right atmosphere to form, and thus the right conditions for a liquid form of water and a warmer surface temperature (helped by the fact that at that time the planet was geologically alive). And all these conditions could have allowed the presence of life, even on a multicellular level.
Anyway, these are only hypothesis, none of us has proofs for what we're saying.

I really do hope that we (the experts) will find out that these bubbles are biotic in origin, but at the moment I keep thinking they're geological; as I wrote mainly because of their interior structure, that reminds me something I don't remember, but that tells me it's not organic.

[Parsec]

Ookay guys, I need your opinion. And to be calmed down.
Maybe I've found what they reminded me, and it's not geological at all.

Here there's the detail of the martian bubbles I posted before


And here there's an image of some Nummulites (http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Nummulites)


Can you see the cylindrical shape rising from the middle of the circles?
To me they look like the same!

I'm not saying that these are Nummulites, but maybe they could be some fossils with the same internal structure!

Should I drink less?

[bison]

Could be something similar to Nummulites, but a good deal more would have to learned about the structure of the Martian objects before a really convincing case could be made for this. Some more information about work on the Kirkwood outcrop has appeared this morning. It seems that the rock fins are basalt, but that the spheres on them may be sedimentary, which leaves open the possibility of fossils. Link to article on this:   http://www.popsci.co...sitys-limelight

Edited by bison, 19 September 2012 - 04:29 PM.