White Rocks on Mars

reply to post by Chansi3


I see it too, could it be from the robotic arm?

This is unreal. Finally a true WTF image from mars that isn't a hamster.. It looks recent, you know? Like all the other mars picks are rugged and brown and dull and rounded and wind blown and stufff

Flagged, this could be a biggy folks


PS it could be life.



Probably a mineral deposit (which, btw is ground breaking in itself) , but just for a second think: rugged white martian fungus. Look at that flat rock....nice find.

Nice pics. I notice on the first picture, the large rock up and to the left, which appears undisturbed, also has a little white 'splash' on the right, upright side, almost as if a fly by from a seagull. Weird being on that rock because it is on a bumpy open area straight up.

Originally posted by canucks555
This is unreal. Finally a true WTF image from mars that isn't a hamster.. It looks recent, you know? Like all the other mars picks are rugged and brown and dull and rounded and wind blown and stufff

Flagged, this could be a biggy folks

PS it could be life.

Probably a mineral deposit, but just for a second think: rugged white martian fungus. Look at that flat rock....nice find.

edit on 21-1-2013 by canucks555 because: (no reason given)

I believe this is one of the rocks the rover wheel ran over to expose its insides. Phage will know for sure.

It could be calcium rich dog poop from Rover

If the rock in the opening post is from the Yellowknife Bay region, it's a good chance that it is a type of calcium deposit. Here is another example from Yellowknife below, it's still calcium but different type of deposit by the looks of it.




photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov...

If you look at the Hi res image you will notice white viens through out the surrounding area of sedimentary rock.
The rock at the C location is also interesting as it does'nt fit the rest of the landscape, volcanic ejecta perhaps?

reply to post by LeLeu


Well, there's no doubt in my mind that whatever it is, it has a very soft composition. That's why Curiosities wheel was able to cleave it .. easily, That's why it's dispersed all over the place. wowsers...just..wowsers..

**crickets**? really??

-So I guess if there are no pixels, hamsters, Egyptian statues, tubes, trees, aliens, or Sandy hook references it's just not interesting...
(sighs)
Some of the people here wouldn't know a good thread topic if it bit them in the ass me thinks...

reply to post by Phage


Hey Phage where do you get your (those) Curiosity pics>? I'm scouring the Nasa raw images site here and can't pin point them. ~ Thanks in advance

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

Originally posted by canucks555
reply to post by Phage

 

Hey Phage where do you get your (those) Curiosity pics>? I'm scouring the Nasa raw images site here and can't pin point them. ~ Thanks in advance

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

It's right there in the photo.

Here is one that they mention the calcium deposits.

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

Originally posted by canucks555
reply to post by Phage

 

Hey Phage where do you get your (those) Curiosity pics>? I'm scouring the Nasa raw images site here and can't pin point them. ~ Thanks in advance

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...

It's usually the Mastcam images, although sometimes there are great closeups by the MAHLI and ChemCam.

Just to confirm, those are rocks crushed by Curiosity's wheels, hence the white material (which I believe is gypsum, or other Calcium-containing minerals).

Here's a mosaic of images from Mastcam left, showing that the small rock with the white insides was broken off and dragged away from the larger rock by Curiosity's wheels. You can see the trail left by the small rock:



Full-res: www.pictureshack.us...

Originally posted by Phage
More white stuff showing up in Curiosity images. Some sort of encrustation.




Looks like good fodder for the chem lab.

edit on 1/21/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

so what white rocks on mars. Big deal.

Did you expect anything less?

If your spectrometer shows different compounds are on mars then you will see different colors of rocks and compounds there too.

Nothing to see here move along.

I don't get people?

what the hell are you expecting? a full fledged life forms?

I'm actually happy we are seeing SOMETHING other than red sand.

Calcium deposits are high indicators of evaporated sea.

Boy that does look a lot like Calcium Carbonate! I thought maybe Travertine as I have speculated many times there are hot springs on Mars.

The ChemCam and the CheMin should be able to tell if this is a calcium deposit and if it is...

I wonder what they will say it is...

Are these rocks very small or was this an accidental run-over?

Seems kind of risky to ram the rover over a rock like that...

Interesting to see the results though, for sure!

coc aine residue?
Outta send the FBI or CIA up there to investigate!

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by ObservingYou

 

It certainly looks chalky.
Odd how it's only on portions of the stone though. It looks like the stone was overturned by Curiosity and the material was on the underside.

I think the rocks are made up of some limestone-ish material and scraped accidentally by Curiosity exposing what has been covered by martian dust for thousands of years.

My two bits.

reply to post by Phage


Rocks are cool and all,but when compared to forests and lakes on mars,Joseph skipper has found many photos from nasas images that show what i believe also are forests and lakes,take a look.i would like to say even if this isn't what it looks like,its still a lot better than landing in that crater.
www.marsanomalyresearch.com...

Limestone is a good indicator of Oceans isn't it?

Originally posted by kalunom
Are these rocks very small or was this an accidental run-over?

Seems kind of risky to ram the rover over a rock like that...

Interesting to see the results though, for sure!

I remember hearing the Curiosity team saying they were planning to roll the rover over the rocks to crush them. Those aren't big rocks, more like fist-sized or slightly bigger.

Originally posted by radtech34
reply to post by Phage

 

Rocks are cool and all,but when compared to forests and lakes on mars,Joseph skipper has found many photos from nasas images that show what i believe also are forests and lakes,take a look.i would like to say even if this isn't what it looks like,its still a lot better than landing in that crater.
www.marsanomalyresearch.com...

That website is a scam. Scientists (including geologists) are studying those features. They are, by most part, dunes, landslides, work of erosion or other geological processes.