A flow of water on Mars, or (Edit: dust. Maybe not so) Curiosity from Curiosity, posted by BlueShift

Here is a find by Blue Shift, which he posted in the anomalies thread, which some of us think might be a flow of water on Mars. It's also been suggested that it's a dust flow, with the darker dust flowing on top of lighter dust. Please go to the link below to see the full post, as well as a discussion on-and-off during the next page and a half or so. In-between the posts discussing this photo are the usual discoveries (Blue Shift has more, including a couple of interesting circles. And funbox has some good ones, as does a member who just signed up to post on the thread, MacChiavell1, who has already found a rock with a tail) . A portion of Blue Shift's original post introducing this find, although his whole post is worth reading and potentially quite accurate, imnho.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...
Spring water:

a reply to: Aleister
Curiosity has to take a leak every now an then perhaps.

Nice find.

originally posted by: ugmold
a reply to: Aleister
Curiosity has to take a leak every now an then perhaps.

Nice find.

I tend to think that it's from either the purple guy in your avatar or the fellow who's come upon him. I'll restrain myself for a bit and not go into analyzing the picture (not your avatar, the what-it-flow), posters have done some of that at the other thread. Any ideas of what this could be?

we finally discovered water on Mars

its about time

I assume nasa are aware of this image, so all they gotta do is look at the same location a few days later to see if its dried up, if so then it was liquid.

originally posted by: Aleister
Here is a find by Blue Shift, which he posted in the anomalies thread, which some of us think might be a flow of water on Mars. It's also been suggested that it's a dust flow, with the darker dust flowing on top of lighter dust. Please go to the link below to see the full post, as well as a discussion on-and-off during the next page and a half or so. In-between the posts discussing this photo are the usual discoveries (Blue Shift has more, including a couple of interesting circles. And funbox has some good ones, as does a member who just signed up to post on the thread, MacChiavell1, who has already found a rock with a tail) . A portion of Blue Shift's original post introducing this find, although his whole post is worth reading and potentially quite accurate, imnho.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

mars.jpl.nasa.gov...
Spring water:

That looks like something you would see at the beach if you were to pour some water onto rocks beside a beach. The water and sand globules would run off like molten metal.

In that picture you can see that there are slopes on either side of the dark strip. It could be that the wind has blown through the gap and blown the light sand away and exposed the darker layers.

originally posted by: VoidHawk
I assume nasa are aware of this image, so all they gotta do is look at the same location a few days later to see if its dried up, if so then it was liquid.

I don't know if the Rover has moved on, or is in the vicinity. I know if I were driving the machine and the team saw this picture (which they undoubtedly have) I'd suggest studying it with Rover's instruments.

Im very positive that it's just a darker sand slide over the light dust coating. If you look at the full image, it's clear that there is a significant drop in the terrain, so the sand isn't stable and can slide between the rocks. I have seen one or two of such things before, for example:


(From Curiosity "selfie" Sol 613: photosynth.net... )

P.S. There's an even bigger one to the left of the first one: mars.jpl.nasa.gov...
You can see the area in-between the rocks where that dark sand had broken off.

a reply to: wildespace

Great find, the much larger pic which shows similar markings on the same photograph. I've never heard of this before. What is the difference between the darker sand or dust, and the lighter sand or dust?

originally posted by: Aleister
a reply to: wildespace

Great find, the much larger pic which shows similar markings on the same photograph. I've never heard of this before. What is the difference between the darker sand or dust, and the lighter sand or dust?

The light reddish colour you see on most images from Mars comes from a very thin layer of iron oxide dust that covers most of the surface and is suspended in the atmosphere. Underneath that layer are grey rocks and darker sand, probably of basaltic origin. You can see some large dark dunes piled up against the Mt Sharp in the Gale crater where Curiosity operates.

Darker sand exposed by Curiosity's scoop:


Grey rock drilled out by Curiosity:


Mars shows many signs of geological and aeolian (wind-created) processes, such as sand slides. HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter took many amazing images of such processes: www.uahirise.org...

heres an interesting link about Mars

www.space.com...

a reply to: Aleister
My eyes may deceive me, but as you zoom into the rock formation, it seems like you see massive evidence of water seeping through them. It looks consistent around seams. Or so it seems.

Am I just wanting to see this?

originally posted by: Jchristopher5
a reply to: Aleister
My eyes may deceive me, but as you zoom into the rock formation, it seems like you see massive evidence of water seeping through them. It looks consistent around seams. Or so it seems.

Am I just wanting to see this?

Yes, I do see what you mean, and there is this darker layer over quite a flow pattern within the rocks. Water, or the dark dust that people are talking about? But the initial flow from the OP, look at how it covers the tiny features on the ground, in a very thin uniform covering. Could this be a large amount of dust flowing from between the rocks? It seems too thin to be a dust flow that could cover that amount of ground in just that way in a very thin layer.

It is a clear spring liquid (water) from underground.

The sands under the wheels of Curiosity are wet on some terrains.
Try to find the images...

Bravo Blueshift!
S&F.

a reply to: Arken

Re: Curiosity's tracks in the sand, there are some images from the same sequence as the OP's image: mars.nasa.gov...



It's just darker sand.

Any moisture in a wet sand or soil would quickly evaporate, and that would probably cause a spike in air humidity that is being constantly monitored by Curiosity's instruments.

~~~

By the way, I'd love to see what Mars would have looked like had there been no reddish dust covering everything. Mars would look totally different then, perhaps like the desert locations on Earth.

a reply to: wildespace


No. No. No. Not those.... wildespace

Now I must go to the beach.


I'll try to find them at my return

This is bigger Liquid (water?) Flows on Mars Now!

a reply to: Aleister

Good thread and nice find, Aleister ... S&F!

Those compliments go to you and all the other relentless posters on the anomalies thread. It's a great topic and I still think we're in for many surprises regarding discoveries on the red planet.

As for liquid water on the surface: I'm not 100% sure that this is what we see in the OP but I'm confident that, today, there are large underground reservoirs of water on Mars and that there are occasional flows of liquid water on the surface (for a short time before quickly boiling away, I think the phenomenon is called 'Recurring Slope Lineae').

I further think that both the geological strata and the 'watery' martian underground have interesting stuff in store for us. Science is slow (as is the public communication on behalf of NASA/JPL) but I'm sure there's a lot more out there just waiting to be unearthed, drilled, scanned, imaged and analyzed.

Again: keep up the good work and, as usual, I look forward to each and every new post like the one here or those in the other Mars threads ... !

The sand is darker because is wet.

Darker sand? Perhaps... positive? Nope.

It looks a whole lot like the ubiquitous sand darkened by moisture.

One would think that any sand spill would be a bit less uniform, as in a mix between the two types. We know there is water on Mars, so it isn't too outlandish (though very outlandish in the literal sense).

Nice find... and howdy Al.