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Originally posted by TinkererJim
I'm on the fence leaning towards not-water on this one. But the coloration of these rocks seems interesting...coincidence?
edit on 20-12-2012 by TinkererJim because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by qmantoo
Phage, I linked to these photos a few pages ago and no they dont. They still show what I see as water. There IS shadow of rocks there but there is also reflection (on the water) as well.
The rocks half a different colour should convince you that this is indeed water. Why would that be - in your explanation?
Just a difference in colour of the rock surface I guess , but that is not taking other linked evidence such as reflections and the fact that you can see more detail in the shadow area NOT less (as you can when looking at reflection/shadow on water). On the other hand our argument for water is not taking all the science and topographical evidence into account either.
Originally posted by Chadwickus
reply to post by qmantoo
It's not just NASA that's bringing information about Mars to the public.
Russia and the European Space Agency have successfully sent missions to Mars and you don't hear them contradicting what NASA says. do you?
India are planning a mission next year to study the atmosphere with an orbiter mission.
What good would it be for NASA to be making stuff up when other nations will eventually prove them wrong?
It's stupid and counter productive.
All you need to do is use that squishy thing between your ears to realise that.
edit on 21/12/12 by Chadwickus because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by qmantoo
Titled - Layered Martian Outcrop 'Shaler' in 'Glenelg' Area
To me, this is showing standing water beneath these shale-like ledges. I can see the reflection - just like you can when you go for a walk beside the river here on Earth.
If you had not been TOLD over and over again there was no water currently on Mars, wouldn't you just assume these were puddles of water? It suddenly came into my mind that this is what we are being shown here and maybe this is why the picture was taken. We all know that the best way to hide something is in plain sight and so to me, this is what it is.
C'mon scientists of the world - dont be so fixed - NASA are showing you this to move you towards an understanding that there is water on Mars. Realise what you are being shown.
Copied from here
Original links
JPL.NASA
Photojournal page with tif format (not that it is much better at 8Mb)
Of course, I suppose it could be just me 'seeing' what I want to see. :-)
No it doesn't.
However, I can give you this about those 2 toned rocks: it's possible that they are like that because of standing water in the past: IE a water line. But from a very, very long time ago.
Originally posted by qmantoo
No it doesn't.
However, I can give you this about those 2 toned rocks: it's possible that they are like that because of standing water in the past: IE a water line. But from a very, very long time ago.
This water... how many centuries or thousands of years ago was it supposed to be there?
In the meantime, what about this weathering which is supposed to be going on? Dont you think these rocks would have suffered weathering to their outside surfaces? They are pretty exposed there and there is all that wind-blown sand mentioned by people on this thread previously.
No, it is a water level mark showing in that image because weathering would have removed it (or at least made it the same colour as the other part of the rock) over all this time.
Science cannot argue for weathering and then when it does not suit the situation say "Oh well there is no appreciable atmosphere or wind on Mars so weathering does not happen on this rock."
My common sense says there is an inconsistency there somewhere.
Mars lost its magnetosphere 4 billion years ago,[111] so the solar wind interacts directly with the Martian ionosphere, lowering the atmospheric density by stripping away atoms from the outer layer. Both Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Express have detected ionised atmospheric particles trailing off into space behind Mars,[111][112] and this atmospheric loss will be studied by the upcoming MAVEN orbiter.
Thanks for the explanation.
There is wind, and the dust on Mars does get blown around. It's a very fine dust in many cases that has a consistency of flour (but that's not the only thing there). That thin dust is picked up by that thin atmosphere and it does get blown around and it can help weather rocks., but it takes a lot longer now than it used to.
It's not thousands of years. We are talking about billions of years, where things changed slowly over time during that time. Mars had a much thicker atmosphere, because it had a strong magnetic field like the Earth. But over time, the field that helps protect the Earth from not just cosmic rays, but also the solar wind from the sun helped slowly strip away the atmosphere on Mars:
Originally posted by TinkererJim
I'm on the fence leaning towards not-water on this one. But the coloration of these rocks seems interesting...coincidence?
edit on 20-12-2012 by TinkererJim because: (no reason given)
You also need to take into account that many of these rocks get covered up and stay that way for very long periods as dust is shifted around on Mars by dust storms. It's quite possible that many of them stay looking the way they do as they remain covered up for very long periods, only to be exposed later.
...and I have looked at many of them. However, I do not see thousands of years of dust/sand build-up behind rocks. I also do not see any half-buried rocks. Over thousands or millions of years, I would expect there to be NO sharp edges to rocks due to even the weakest wind blowing the smallest particles around. Are you actually telling me that this weak wind cannot even blow 5 or 10mm blueberries into piles? I see some small piles of dust and sand, and that makes me thing there is some wind movement. As I said before, these blueberries are tiny and I would expect some movement of them by this weak wind.
There are plenty of photos out there of martial rocks half buried in the dust. Take a look at many of Spirit and Opportunity's photos too.
This suggests that you have no concept of just how long thousands and millions of years are. They ARE a very long time, so to suggest that flour or anything for that matter will not cause erosion over these kind of time periods is simply incorrect.
Feel the difference? One is heavier and much more abrasive than the other. Fill a sand blaster with sand and watch it peel away the paint on a metal surface in seconds. The (if you want to ruin the machine) fill it with flour and try again and see what happens. You're going to get very bored waiting for that paint to come off. It will happen, but it's going to take a very long time.
And where is the evidence of these massive amounts of dust. We see images of dust storms perhaps, but no on-the-ground dumping of dust and sand.
The winds do move the dust around, and we do see that on a massive scale when dust storms happen on Mars and are seen by our probes and even here on Earth with a good telescope.
Firstly we have the MERs which were/are moving around slowly for at least 6 years. They have taken numerous images which include their solar panels. We also have the spacecraft which have taken pictures of the same place at different times. So, yes we do.
What we don't have is something sitting there taking pictures of the same spot, year, after year, after year, after year, etc, etc, etc.
BUT we are talking and arguing about wind and water not ice. This ice has nothing to do with wind and water being present in quantities and densities which will give rise to the evidence I am looking for and not finding, and which you say exists on Mars.
There is other weathering going on too besides wind. That very water that we are arguing about. It's in the air, and when the temps drop down enough, it will cover things with frost There are plenty of pictures of that.
When that frost forms, it can do it in the smallest cracks. Frost is still ice, and can expand, exerting force inside that crack making it wider. It's a very, very slow process, but it does happen.
So yes, I can have it both ways, because there are several forces at work here, and 4.5 billion years of time for them to have worked on things there.
And your point is ... what? How does this answer the question I asked? Answer - it does not. We are not talking about one dust particle pushing on one blueberry, we are talking about many many dust particles in a thin atmosphere pushing on many blueberries.
Oh, and as for the "blue berries": you mentioned their diameter.......that's good. Because now you need to consider the diameter of a single dust particle, their density too.