Odd rock discovered by Spirit

marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov...

This color image taken by Spirit is centered on an unusually flaky rock called Mimi. Mimi is only one of many features in the area known as "Stone Council," but looks very different from any rock that scientists have seen at the Gusev crater site so far.

Strange looking rock, does anyone know what conditions create such rocks on Earth?

Also notice how the press-release image names have changed a little. The image looks strange as it has been made with L257 or L357 filters.

[Edited on 14-2-2004 by Kano]

[Edited on 14-2-2004 by Kano]

Mimi?

Mimi????????

That rock is DEFINITELY a Benjamin, after Benjamin Grimm.

I am not a geologist but it does appear as if it is a "slate" of some type perhaps?
Slate is indicative of oceans- many marine fossils are found in slate.

It looks like shale, you know built up on the bottom of an ancient ocean.

Here's another interesting picture of a rock taken from the latest mars mission. You may have already seen it, or think its nothing....but i thought i would put it up anyway as some ppl have been discussing it on other sites...


[Edited on 14-2-2004 by DarkCircuit]

Originally posted by kinglizard
It looks like shale, you know built up on the bottom of an ancient ocean.

I reckon a type of shale too. Slate only ,usually, looks like the
layers when u hit it, in the right spot with a cold chisel and a rubber
mallet. Anyway!!!......What's with the shadows., They r all over the
place?
Is the pic' affected by of a lot of spotlights, like at a stadium?
And the 'mini mountain ridge'. No real shadow at all?

[edit on 2004-7-2 by Teknik]

Originally posted by DarkCircuit
Here's another interesting picture of a rock taken from the latest mars mission. You may have already seen it, or think its nothing....but i thought i would put it up anyway as some ppl have been discussing it on other sites...


[Edited on 14-2-2004 by DarkCircuit]

Greetings, DarkCircuit
Do u have a link? No dis' but I smell photoshop.
#1 The local bakery loaf o' bread. (wrapped in foil)
#2 A wrist-watch, at the right of loaf
#3 I dunno about the diag' rock on the rhs of pic
#4 The square thing looks like a dis' ration pack
or medi' sterile field kit
#5 Next to #4. I would take a guess it's prob'
an empty tube of zinc cream, as zinc cr' is standard
issue in desert kit. Plus as re my space2015 post
re: strange rock, the shadows in r all over the place.
As they r here

Originally posted by Teknik
It is reminiscent of what I have seen in desert washes, where intermittent rains deposit muddy/silty sand a couple of times a year.

If it crumbles away when they touch it, odds are that's exactly what it is.
If it is hard, then it might be slate/shale.
Or not, but it certainly looks like a water-side creation.

It look's kinda powdery. I think shale breaks-up with minimum
erosion.

shale? i think were getttin too far ahead of ourselves, but just the rock is the interestin part, that rocks like that are only really formed around water here.

or, its shale, and the russians beat us to mars.

It does look like shale or even compressed sandstone or limestone.

maybe it's a piece of corroding metal?

or it could be a metamorphic rock which is what I think it is.

One of the noticible features of the Martian landscape is the fine dust/ sand layers on the surface.

Is it possible that Mimi was formed from windblown dust? the stratified dusts could have been compresses and soildified by a meteor impact or volcanic action.

On earth, soil formed from windblown silt are called loess (rhymes with "bus"). Loess is found not only in the areas once covered by the glaciers but has been blown into the non-glaciated areas.

I am not saying that Mars once had glaciers, but that the predominant form of erosion is likely to be based on the wind.

Going in for a closer look.

SPIRIT UPDATE: Movin' Towards "Mimi" - sol 40, Feb 13, 2004


Spirit woke up to its 40th sol on Mars to the song "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong and then proceeded to have a wonderful sol which ended at 7:59 a.m. Friday, PST. After utilizing the miniature thermal emission spectrometer instrument on surrounding soil and completing some pre-drive imaging with the panoramic camera, Spirit proceeded 90 centimeters (2.95 feet) towards a collection of rocks called "Stone Council." The drive lasted less than five minutes. After completing the drive, Spirit imaged several rocks with the panoramic camera, and completed a mosaic of the area in front and to the left of itself.

On sol 41, which will end at 8:39 a.m. Saturday, PST, Spirit will be repositioned in front of the flaky rock called "Mimi" in preparation for placing its instrument deployment device on that rock during sol 42.