"limestone pavement " on mars ?

as a counter point to a thread by " MIKESINGH " in another ATS forum , i offer an alternate analysis of the same picture :



the top right area is reminicenent , at least in my eyes of " limestone pavement "

and yes , limestone pavement formation requires ancient standing water , and considerable errosion activity .



limestone pavement is a geological feature common in the yorkshire dales national park [ UK ] , less than 30 minuites drive from my current residence .

i would like to see the images of the area "above " and "to the right " of the mars image - to see if the pattern continues

Why are you saying its, specifically, limestone?

i did not intent to specifically imply that it was limeston on mars , hence the "_" brackets around " limestone pavement "

i used that term only because it is the type of karst geology i am most familar with

but as you will read - the bedrock must be quite soft and soluble - and prone to fractures which form the star points for errosion of the grykes

all karsts i am aware of form in sedimentary rock formations , harder igneous and volcanic rocks will be far more resistant to such selectibe and localised erorions .

but as i pointed out - it was just a speculative observation which would require further evidence - both of the existance of further similar parterning in adgacent photograps

and the analysis of the martian geology , i cannot google what type of rocks exact areas are , the classilfications are irritaingly generalised

and of course - it could just be another type of formation that has become " partially filled in " with sand or such

but IMHO a definite feature worthy of further study

hope that answers your querries

PS - i am neither a geologist or astronomer - just a mountaineering monkey

so all i have written is just my speculative opoinionate





[edit on 28-11-2006 by ignorant_ape]

It's more likely to be a sandstone pavement (think Central/Southern California... the reddish sandstone there.)

Limestone is calcium carbonate. I have seen/dealt with limestone that's been affected by iron (Mars is the "red planet" and the red comes from iron oxide (rust)) but that material is yellowish in color.

Mars has also been geologically active in the past, which means earthquakes, which can buckle strips of natural pavement. I'd vote for sandstone in the absence of other evidence.

They identified this mineral as Jarosite, a few months into the mission.

Here is a little info on the mineral:
jarosite

It's often associated with Hematite..which is what the little blueberry things are made of.

It's a very soft mineral, but is associated with water..a soaking wet amount of water.

Not sure how they cracked that way..But I'm guessing meteor impacts may have been invloved..Because the place where we've seen this so far, is near crater impacts.