Mars - miscellaneous anomalies

[flippinrocks]

This may come as a shock (thats right puns!) but, I'm thinking that volcanoes are specific to Earth because
of the oceans ability to block charge transfer. I'm looking at 2 clues; the pacific ring of fire and the world most active volcanoes....in the middle of the pacific ocean.

while the off earth images of spirals are close, they don't exactly match in texture if I were to replicate the image
say in a painting on canvas.

maybe someone knows of a good off earth volcanoe erupting photo I haven't seen they can link.

[redeye]

Another way of forming spirals in a fluid medium: Waterspout?

Cheers!

[Lloyd]

Redeye » Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:33 am said:
Another way of forming spirals in a fluid medium: Waterspout?

* Very interesting observation. It obviously means that Mars' surface was melted and a few "lavaspouts" spiraled in and out of existence in those locations. Here's a side-by-side comparison of images for you.

* I suppose, in reality, those are sand dunes where dust devils or something spiraled in and out briefly.

[Lloyd]

Lava Coil Comparison
* Here is the image of a lava coil in Hawaii that was included in the article for comparison with the one on Mars.
http://i.space.com/images/i/16969/i02/hawaii-lava-coil.jpg?1335461444

* Although the coil and the spirals don't seem real similar, I have to admit that the surrounding terrain does with the many polygons.
How Lava Coils Form
* Here's what another article says: http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/moon-mars/how-lava-created-strange-spirals-on-mars-8392905.

[This is in] Athabasca Valles, a large (about 100,000 square miles), canyon-like valley near Mars’ equator. At the head of the valley is a series of cracks called the Cerberus Fossae, and at the base the valley opens into a huge, flat area. For the past few years scientists have debated whether a volcanic eruption or the influence of ice near the surface created the polygonal landscape features within the area.
... Lava, on the other hand, does form coils; they appear in relatively recent lava flows on Earth, especially in areas such as Hawaii. "Their formation is a fairly basic process," Ryan says. "Whenever you have a lava flow, you can have shear zones where parts of the flow are moving past each other at different speeds or even in different directions." The movement of those different parts can cause the lava to rotate. It then cools as it spins to create a permanent coil on the surface of the flow.
- The direction of the coil can tell planetary geologists how the lava was moving as it flowed, and reveals that the surface of the vast area is coated with lava. More than 5000 cubic kilometers worth of lava pooled in the Cerberus Palus on Mars, forming a giant lava lake. "It’s one of the largest lava flows in the solar system,"

Source of the Magma
* Well, that sounds plausible. But where did the lava come from? There seem to be two possibilities. 1) There may have been a rift that opened up and allowed magma to spread over the surface, like flood basalt. 2) Widespread electrical discharges may have melted the surface. With rift openings there would be magma flows, which might move at different rates and or in different directions, producing these spirals. If the surface was melted, I don't know what would have caused the magma movements.
* These next two images are of another part of Cerberus Fossae, that show the polygons. The second image is a closeup from the first one.
http://www.psi.edu/sites/default/files/imported/pgwg/images/Thaw1.jpg

http://www.psi.edu/sites/default/files/imported/pgwg/images/Thaw3.jpg

* One thing that's odd is that the polygons appear on the upper level, on the downward slopes, and somewhat on the lower levels. So how could that happen? Did the upper level melt and then start to harden, and then electric discharging scooped out some sections, with the scalloped sides, and remelted some of the downward slopes?

[swansong]

Thought I'd share this hot off the presses finding... a new article raises the possibility (or likelihood) that the distribution of methane on Mars is caused by electrical discharges from dust devils, rather than some other cyclical abiotic process. Hazaa!

Electrical discharges as a possible source of methane on Mars: lab simulation
A. Robledo-Martinez,1 H. Sobral,2 and A. Ruiz-Meza1
1 División de Ciencias Básicas e Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Av. San
Pablo 180, Azcapotzalco, 02200 México DF, Mexico.
2 Centro de Ciencias Aplicadas y Desarrollo Tecnológico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma
de México, Ciudad Universitaria, Coyoacán, 04510 México DF, Mexico.

Abstract
At a concentration of 10-50 ppbv, methane is suggested to be a trace element in the martian atmosphere. The sharp variations in its concentration observed are difficult to explain using current theories for sources and sinks (be it biotic or abiotic). Here we propose, and demonstrate with a lab simulation, a new production mechanism for methane based on the effect of electrical discharges over iced surfaces. The discharges, caused by electrification of dust devils and sand storms, ionize gaseous CO2 and water molecules and their byproducts recombine to produce methane. Our experimental results show that pulsed electrical discharges over ice samples in a synthetic martian atmosphere produce about 1.41×1016 molecules of methane per joule of applied energy. The results of the electrical discharge experiment were compared with photolysis induced with UV laser radiation and it was found that both produce methane although the efficiency of photolysis is one-third of that of the discharge.

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/pip/2012GL053255.shtml

[PersianPaladin]

Those Martian dust storms are really interesting actually.

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/ ... stmars.htm

Would be nice if they could get some good footage and measurements perhaps even of electric field changes within these storms.

[Mr_Majestic]

Mars is in the scientific news a lot recently. Here's something else to throw into the mix.

"When I studied the satellite images from Mars, many of the features looked very much like fault systems I have seen in the Himalayas and Tibet, and in California as well, including the geomorphology," said Yin, a planetary geologist.

So it looks like water erosion may be dropped as the dominant explanation for the features on the Red Planet. However, is this alternative any better? Methinks electricity needs to be invoked.

Comments are most welcome, as are reasons why these researchers are barking up the wrong tree.

[Lloyd]

Vallis Marineris a Fault?
* Here's the Vallis Marineris image with caption from the site, followed by an excerpt from the article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120809155831.htm:

[V]iew of central segment of Mars' Valles Marineris, in which an older circular basin created by an impact is offset for about 93 miles (150 kilometers) by a fault. (Credit: Image from Google Mars created by MOLA Science Team)

- "When I studied the satellite images from Mars, many of the features looked very much like fault systems I have seen in the Himalayas and Tibet, and in California as well, including the geomorphology," said Yin, a planetary geologist.
- For example, he saw a very smooth, flat side of a canyon wall, which can be generated only by a fault, and a steep cliff, comparable to cliffs in California's Death Valley, which also are generated by a fault. Mars has a linear volcanic zone, which Yin said is a typical product of plate tectonics.

Death Valley a Fault?
* Here's a satellite image of Death Valley from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley:
* I don't know if it's possible for erosion to form valleys equally spaced perpendicular to a fault like this, if Death Valley is a fault, but such perpendicular features seem to have a good chance of being electrically carved. By the way, even if Death Valley is a fault, EU theory suggests that faults are underground electrical effects.
TPODs and Videos
* This TPOD and others present the case for electrical carving of Vallis Marineris: http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050516marineris.htm.
* These Thunderbolts videos, called "The Lightning Scarred Planet Mars",
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_T6__JDeyw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-qrnsh83f4
probably present the best evidence and explanation of the electrical carving of Vallis Marineris and many other features of Mars.

[Mr_Majestic]

What with Curiosity's long-heralded arrival on the Red Planet's surface blanketing most scientific news regarding our solar system in recent weeks, it's easy to forget that one particular Martian rover is still continuing to send back new data to Earth despite a technologically superior successor arriving on the scene.

Eight-year-old Opportunity has found 'Blueberries' on Mars that don't conform with samples analyzed in the past, throwing doubt onto standard theories regarding their formation.

Ellipses added:

...Opportunity is investigating an outcrop called Kirkwood in the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The spheres measure as much as one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter. The analysis is still preliminary, but it indicates that these spheres do not have the high iron content of Martian blueberries.

"This is one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission," said Opportunity's principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "Kirkwood is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects. Of course, we immediately thought of the blueberries, but this is something different. We never have seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars..."

"...They seem to be crunchy on the outside, and softer in the middle," Squyres said. "They are different in concentration. They are different in structure. They are different in composition. They are different in distribution. So, we have a wonderful geological puzzle in front of us. We have multiple working hypotheses, and we have no favorite hypothesis at this time. It's going to take a while to work this out, so the thing to do now is keep an open mind and let the rocks do the talking."

I for one look forward to their new postulating. As for the EU view of Mars, what does this mean? From my basic level of knowledge of the subject, I'm guessing that these 'softer' spherules are a result of a different level of electrical exposure compared to the baseline iron-rich and more solid Blueberries discovered previously. I get the feeling that their location where they were found also plays into this somehow. A rocky outcrop... an electrical discharge point perhaps?

Thoughts and comments most welcome.

[seasmith]

Mr_,

With all the talk about 'dry ice' (frozen CO2) snow on Mars last week, was thinking maybe CO2 bubbling up from the electric soup below, into a puddle of of cement-like clay (google images of the puddles around hot springs, geysers, etc), pushed a bit by a surface breeze lending obliquity, and some of the bubbles popping before hardening {leaving some rims as seen in the image}.

s

[Lloyd]

Martian Blueberries
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040405.html
[4/5/2004]

The average diameter of a blueberry is only about 4 millimeters.

New Martian Spherules
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mer/news/mer20120914.html
[9/14/2012]

Opportunity is investigating an outcrop called Kirkwood in the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The spheres measure as much as one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter. The analysis is still preliminary, but it indicates that these spheres do not have the high iron content of Martian blueberries.

Lunar Spherules
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_spherules

ranging in size from less than 100 micrometers to more than 250 micrometers [0.25 mm], similar spherules were found in Moon soil samples collected by Apollo 12 at the Procellarum Basin, and Apollo 14 near Mare Imbrium (Sea of Rains), the dark crater that dominates the Moon's face, and their properties were consistent with expectations for creation by meteor impacts.

Meteoric Chondrules
http://www.saharamet.com/meteorite/chondrules/show.html

The average chondrule size is [1?] millimeter in diameter, but it is not uncommon to have chondrules between 7 or 8 millimeters in diameter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chondrule

Chondrules can range in diameter from just a few micrometers to over 1 cm.

TPOD
http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2004/arch/040827mars.htm
[8/27/2004] At this TPOD blueberries are compared to moqui balls, geodes, thunder eggs, concretions and even hailstones. But Ransom's blueberries made in the lab seemed most similar.

4 mm av Martian Blueberries
3 mm max New Martian Spherules
0.25 mm max Lunar Spherules
10 mm max Meteoric Chondrules (carbonates etc)
? ............ Ransom's blueberries (hematite)

[Phorce]

Hmmm, I wonder if the Opportunity team are simply looking at more ancient - fossilised - sphericals ? I found it interesting looking at this again. I have followed this story from when the "blueberries" were first discovered. I read the Thunderbolts article again. The bit about ... "Electric discharge tends to produce spherical layering and a distinct equator and pole" immediately started linking things up in my mind. The grooved spheres found on Earth with the parallel grooves along their equator, as well as Iapetus which has the same structure on a vastly larger scale and is, of course, a moon of a highly electrical planet. Which all goes to show how some things are only "puzzling" when vast areas of scientific observations are occluded or made into no go areas.

[nick c]

Has Mars Curiousity found evidence of life?
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2 ... -just-find

[webolife]

Sorry to dampen anyone's enthusiasm for this potential, but I think this is hype, perhaps to justify or generate funding at the beginning of the new presidential term... I don't feel the slightest bit shook.

[Mr_Majestic]

Well for starters, there's no Martian bacteria, though they might have discovered chemical compounds.

Ellipses added:

NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has used its full array of instruments to analyze Martian soil for the first time, and found a complex chemistry within the Martian soil. Water and sulfur and chlorine-containing substances, among other ingredients, showed up in samples Curiosity's arm delivered to an analytical laboratory inside the rover...

...The specific soil sample came from a drift of windblown dust and sand called "Rocknest." The site lies in a relatively flat part of Gale Crater still miles away from the rover's main destination on the slope of a mountain called Mount Sharp. The rover's laboratory includes the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite... One class of substances SAM checks for is organic compounds -- carbon-containing chemicals that can be ingredients for life.

"We have no definitive detection of Martian organics at this point, but we will keep looking in the diverse environments of Gale Crater," said SAM Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md...

...Curiosity's team selected Rocknest as the first scooping site because it has fine sand particles suited for scrubbing interior surfaces of the arm's sample-handling chambers. Sand was vibrated inside the chambers to remove residue from Earth. MAHLI close-up images of Rocknest show a dust-coated crust one or two sand grains thick, covering dark, finer sand.

"Active drifts on Mars look darker on the surface," said MAHLI Principal Investigator Ken Edgett, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego."This is an older drift that has had time to be inactive, letting the crust form and dust accumulate on it."

CheMin's examination of Rocknest samples found the composition is about half common volcanic minerals and half non-crystalline materials such as glass. SAM added information about ingredients present in much lower concentrations and about ratios of isotopes... The water seen by SAM does not mean the drift was wet. Water molecules bound to grains of sand or dust are not unusual, but the quantity seen was higher than anticipated.

SAM tentatively identified the oxygen and chlorine compound perchlorate. This is a reactive chemical previously found in arctic Martian soil by NASA's Phoenix Lander. Reactions with other chemicals heated in SAM formed chlorinated methane compounds -- one-carbon organics that were detected by the instrument. The chlorine is of Martian origin, but it is possible the carbon may be of Earth origin, carried by Curiosity and detected by SAM's high sensitivity design.

In short, there's a small possibility that the carbon discovered went with Curiosity on the trip to Mars, meaning no carbon-based life on Mars.

That part about the higher-than-expected amounts of water molecules bound to the grains of sand piqued my interest. The age of the drift might have had something to do with it. Electrical events in the past perhaps?