Mars Terrain Features Compared to the Great Barrier Reef on Earth

originally posted by: jeep3r
a reply to: audubon

Not in terms of extant corals on the surface, I doubt anyone assumed that to be the case.

It's more the thought of whether or not ancient marine organisms, like corals or stromatolites, would have left behind any distinct large-scale patterns in the terrain that would be visible long after their demise.

I think they would. Obviously fossilisation on Mars seems unlikely, but the fossil reefs we have here on Earth show the persistence of the outlines of such formations after eons.

One thought has occurred to me since you started this thread. What is the elevation of the land where your reef-like formations sit?

a reply to: audubon

According to the global elevation map available in GE, it's in the lower regions of the scale:

a reply to: jeep3r

Now, that's encouraging!

Mars Terrain Features Compared to an Ice Cream

Mars' south pole


Ice cream


Nom!

Early Mars photos were dead ringer for AZ desert through an instagram filter. Now it's zoomed in snaps of Ben N Jerry's

a reply to: wildespace

Come on now, we all knew there's ice cream on Mars!

But I get your point about hunting clouds, pareidolia and basing assumptions upon visual evidence only, which is not very scientific. However, the existence of marine organisms in Martian prehistory is a real possibility. We actually already found hints and strong indications that would support this assumption.