Paleonet: *That* Martian photo...

[Tony D'Agostino]

My first guess would be some kind of encrustation or accumulation of
minerals derived from fluids (brines?) expelled through the fractures?
Perhaps seasonally? The projections possibly building up over time?
It presents an eerie image on the gigapan.

Tony D'Agostino

On Wed, Aug 5, 2015 at 4:31 AM, Joseph Botting <acutipuerilis at yahoo.co.uk>
wrote:

>
> Hi All,
> I'm sure you've all seen the lurid headlines by now: “Alien crab on
> Mars!”; “Crab-like alien facehugger is seen crawling out of a cave on
> Mars!” and so on. We've all seen it before, of course – from human bones to
> statues, it's all a question of seeing patterns in random cloud formations.
> This one, though, seems to be a bit more interesting. Obviously it's not a
> crab or a 'facehugger,' but from a geological point of view, there's
> something there. While some sources (including SETI) have said it's just
> another case of pareidolia, there are enough differences from the
> surrounding rock that this seems to me an insufficient explanation; it
> differs in colour and texture, and forms a shape that is completely
> distinct from everything else in the field of view and the wider panorama.
> With all the knowledge of rocks, fossils and pseudofossils on Paleonet, I
> thought it might be an entertaining subject for some speculative
> discussion.
>
> So, here's the image that's made it into the tabloids, in a typical
> article:
> https://www.rt.com/news/311451-mars-nasa-image-monster/
>
> Scroll down and you'll find an enhanced close-up (I can duplicate a lot of
> the details of this with simple sharpening, so I don't think there's much
> more to the 'enhancement' than basic processing).
>
> The original is the one that matters, of course, and here it is:
>
> http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/00710/mcam/0710MR0030150070402501E01_DXXX.jpg
>
> And here is the outcrop (upper left) in the full panorama:
> http://gigapan.com/gigapans/160350
>
> What I can make out of all this is that this is an object that clearly
> differs from the adjacent rock, which is either embedded in a fracture in
> the rock or attached to a vertical surface, and which appears to be
> superimposed onto the background; the projections, especially at the base,
> clearly overlie the sedimentary layering. The centre appears to be
> demarcated by a subcircular furrow or ridge, and the outer part extended
> into at least 10-12 radiating projections. There are no other remotely
> similar objects in the entire panorama, which is very large.
>
> So, without resorting to extremely lost sea creatures(!), has anyone seen
> a similar structure on Earth that could provide an analogue? I've been
> pondering things lik complex concretionary structures in cross-section, but
> it is hard to envisage a way of creating the radial projections, and I've
> not personally seen anything similar. A fulgurite might possibly be another
> explanation (I'm not sure what the differences would have been for
> fulgurites on the early Mars – depends on conductivity of the sediment,
> amongst opther things), but that also is not convincing. Can anyone come up
> with a more persuasive sedimentological interpretation?
>
> Of course, it's all speculation (unless they can somehow get Curiosity
> around the crater rim to have a close look), but there's nothing wrong with
> some of that every now and then – and I'm looking forward to learning from
> your experiences of other strange sedimentary structures!
>
> All the best,
> Joe
>
>
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>


-- 
Tony D’Agostino
Katy, Texas
In beer there is art, in wine there is truth, in water there is bacteria
  *The party of Lincoln supports guns in theaters. Oh the irony!*
*"Four out of five dentists recommend Crest. I guess the fifth was too busy
murdering lions to take the poll." Larry Wilmore*
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