The Strange, Black, "Spidery Things" on Mars - and a Possible Explanation

The Strange, Black, "Spidery Things" on Mars - and a Possible Explanation

From:
Are Those Spidery Black Things On Mars Dangerous? (Maybe)
(npr.org)
By Robert Krulwich, October 3, 2012

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured some truly strange images of the Martian surface in 2010 that has defied explanation; The "spidery things" come and go, appearing every Martian spring, and "grow" along the ridges of the surface, and never in the sandy, flat plains. Some appear overnight, and "as the sun gets hotter, they get more spidery", and when winter comes, they vanish.





While no one has a thorough explanation, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, European Space Agency, and Hungary have all proposed various theories, one among those theories stands out. So what are they? Visit the link and find out...!

So couldn't they use spectroscopy (I think that's what you use to test for chemicals by observing the wavelengths of light) to test if there is an increase in CO2 in that area as a result of the geysers they think they might be? I think I remember that the orbiter taking these shots has one on board, no?

I think the Hungarians' explanation is more fun, though...



ETA: hey! Isn't that "three" shaped dune thing in the bottom pic the Ziljan Cymbals mark? Proof of life (and drum solos) on Mars!!!

Very neat, why did the rover get sent to a boring place?

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Flag and star. Loved the fact that you didn't add the topmost theory nor added any personal opinions in the leading post...

Originally posted by rickymouse
Very neat, why did the rover get sent to a boring place?

Should have went to venus ... Or the other side of the moon... Mars is lame

reply to post by rickymouse


The rovers unfortunately get sent to boring places, because they have to make sure that they land safely. The best places to land are wide open areas without large rocks or other geological features that could cause them to be damaged when landing.

At the same time, all the cool stuff tends to be in areas where there are large hills, canyons, and ridges. Which make them poor places to try and land very expensive rovers. That is why Curiosity and the other rovers landed where they did.

Is it just me or does anyone else also get the impression that this image is "organic" in origin ?
Sure, it MOST likely is just sand erosion of rock but still ... looks distinctly organic in nature to me.
And exactly how does sand erosion generate such sharp edges ?



Here's a pic of whale bones as a comparison.
I'm sure if they spent untold years in a sandy environment being regularly sand-blasted that they too would have developed a smooth and silky appearance.

Originally posted by dayve

Originally posted by rickymouse
Very neat, why did the rover get sent to a boring place?

Should have went to venus ... Or the other side of the moon... Mars is lame

i think they meant a boring place on Mars
in other words curiosity should of been sent here with the spidery things!



also i would like to say is it possible they are some form of plants? they only appear in spring is a biggie towards my thoughts
also if they are guisers (spelling) wouldnt the sand be blown apart? meaning no dunes?

The feature in the top of this image looks like a giant Mars caterpillar..



Must be like starship troopers up there..

I'm thinking "sludge", a mixture of silicate and water. (think the sachets of "sprinkles"one often finds in packages, to keep moisture away)
It's the only way to prevent water/ice to sublimate immediately in the low pressure Martian athmosphere. It leaves the sludge fluid enough to make some nice streams.

Oh, and that "half-moon"shape with the sharp edge? Quite normal in a place where the wind is mainly from one direction. Mauretania has some great fields of crescent-shaped dunes. Sharp edges et all.

AFA Mars goes, I can imagine a dune with ice inside, wind blows on it, exposes the ice on only óne side, ice melts ,and the resulting water almost immediately evaporates, but the ice stays "solid"on the lee/shadow side ,while the sand is blown over it, hence the "wave-roller shape"

reply to post by tauristercus


That was my first thought too...what is the scale of these pix?

There is no frozen co2 on mars and im sick of these people lying to us.

Probably perennial plants that grow from bulbs and die back to the bulb every winter. Very common on earth

Originally posted by 3Dplus

what is the scale of these pix?

According to the link, the photo was taken from 200 miles above Mars' surface. I guess that means that even with a serious zoom factor, the scale is probably several hundred miles across.

But I agree with you - it's very important to know the scale before any hypotheses can be made.

The description of when this thing pops up seems to be in line with ... plants.

What does this look like if you colour the black stuff as green?

reply to post by tauristercus

Good Catch. I also thought it looked more like something buried under the sand and dust. Why not a skeleton? Maybe dinosaur? What if the sun was much hotter eons ago and mars had oceans?
*** Just caught that it could be 100's of miles wide. That would be some big bones then.

reply to post by dutchmilpo


Sorry, I just actually read the article. Duh... my bad.

OP:Those pics you brought of Mars are awesome. Thanks for sharing.

HIRISE has many images of patterns formed by sublimating carbon dioxide ice in the Martian Polar regions. Below is a quick link to 147 out of over 25,000 images from HIRISE. The 147 are of carbon dioxide images.


hirise.lpl.arizona.edu...

There are other places in the solar system that produce effects similar to this. Heres a pic of one of Neptune's moons Triton:

Plumes (of) cryovolcanism on its surface, captured by the Voyager spacecraft, are fascinating, they spit a mixture of liquid nitrogen, methane and ammonia.
---
The dark streaks on the picture seem to come from small volcanoes and consist of nitrogen frost mixed with organic compounds ejected by geysers of Triton.
www.astronoo.com...

Brrr...

The same forces at work in the "spiders" are also behind the "lizard skin" and "lace" features;

Probably one of the cooler pics of these:










I suppose conditions must be just right on Mars for these to occur (solar geysers), but in the grand scheme of things not any stranger than caves on earth that can grow giant crystals.

More: Digplanet - Martian geyser

The linked article states that they are geysers? Correct me if I am wrong, but the black spidery "things", only grow on raised surfaces, or dunes, but the linked article shows the geysers blasting through normal, level sand? So, maybe I'm just confused, but that doesn't make sense.

To me, it looks like some type of fungus, mold, or organic plant of some kind. As others have stated, it seems to have an Earthly growing cycle, and dies out during winter. With it growing in one place, it has to have something to do with the amount of sunlight it's getting, and/or temperature of the area. If it's organic, of course, which I have no way of knowing.

Really very interesting, though. Thanks for showing!