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

The extreme environment probably induces the effect called "whiskers". I've seen this "growth" on microcircuits short out components all their own.

nepp.nasa.gov...


This is just on a grand scale because of the temps, gravity, radiation, composition, etc.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by JohnPhoenix

 

I think the geyser idea is silly. If true, why haven't the cameras captures any of the geysers themselves?

Like this?

From M07-01830

I didn't mean there weren't geysers on mars, just that THESE were not geysers. If the spider like things were made by geysers, ( particles thrown up by geysers like the article claims) I would expect to see some active geysers in the same area. These pictures don't look the same as the pictures of the geysers.

Whats the elevation of the camera for the geyser pictures?.. looks kinda close. Either they are real large or the pictures of the spider things much farther up. Lets get pics of the spider things at the same distance the camera was for the geysers and see how well they match. If we are really seeing a tightly cropped bunch of geysers way up high that make the spidery things, you'd have to show it better than with that comparison.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix

I didn't mean there weren't geysers on mars, just that THESE were not geysers. If the spider like things were made by geysers, ( particles thrown up by geysers like the article claims) I would expect to see some active geysers in the same area. These pictures don't look the same as the pictures of the geysers.

The confusion isn't your fault. The article in OP has it wrong. The dark markings on the dunes are not the result of geysers, they are formed by a different process. Here the dunes get covered with CO2 ice which, when warmed, cracks and dislodges sand which flows off the dune creating the dark streaks. In this close up you can see a puff of dust being kicked up by the falling material.

Whats the elevation of the camera for the geyser pictures?.. looks kinda close.

It is in orbit at an altitude of about 370 km.

It would be cool if it turned out to be some kind of lichen-like organism that could grow in areas where trace amounts of water may condense. (At low enough elevations and depending on the "Mars weather", there's just enough pressure where it can exist as a liquid.)

Of course that would be crazy, wouldn't it? (Despite knowing that lichen is something able to grow in both desert and arctic conditions here on Earth, which would be the closest analogues to conditions on Mars.)

Originally posted by Phage

The confusion isn't your fault. The article in OP has it wrong. The dark markings on the dunes are not the result of geysers, they are formed by a different process.

Your saying these spider like things were not caused by geysers?

Here the dunes get covered with CO2 ice which, when warmed, cracks and dislodges sand which flows off the dune creating the dark streaks. In this close up you can see a puff of dust being kicked up by the falling material.

Whats the elevation of the camera for the geyser pictures?.. looks kinda close.

It is in orbit at an altitude of about 370 km.

That is an awesome picture. But it's hard to tell what I'm looking at.. it messes with your eyes and orientation like an illusion. In this picture you just linked to, are the stringy long objects laying flat along the dunes or are they going straight up.. like weeds growing up ( that's what it appears, but like I say, that picture messes with your orientation)

I think I'm confused more now. LOL People you have Got to see That picture!

reply to post by tauristercus


That's what I though, I can't see any resemblance of a spider, the black things just look like there mixed in with the sand!

All I have to say is...

Dune!

Very nice pictures! Personally, I don´t think these "spidery" things are caused by geysers of some sort; why would geysers only show around edges or rims? I would be very interested to know what the exact scale is of the images in the OP. I mean, just how large would a single "spidery" thing be? If it´s a few hundred meters or even a few kilometers across, then a lot of speculation doesn´t make sense at all.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Looks like BLACK MOLD growing.

Hmmmm, guess we'll have to send an orbiter full of Chlorox up there to clean it up.

I'm leaning toward them being colonies of photosynthesis producing microorganisms, which would also go a ways toward explaining Mars seasonal rise in methane levels.

Originally posted by Phage
Like this?

From M07-01830

Those do not look like geysers to me, because of two things:
1 - it would be unlikely for all of those to be active at the time of the photo.
2 - if they are vertical features like a geyser jet, where are their shadows?

The original pictures of the 'spidery things' strongly suggest that these are indeed vertical "structures". I have posted a few below. (More evidence and pictures can be found from the same source, to which I posted the link at the bottom of this post).

For example, the enlarged original pictures show that the 'spidery things' may have remnants of shadows (which may have been edited out) and roots.









Source: Mars Anomaly Research Report 177

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Maybe it is some kind of seasonal mineral crystallisation...

reply to post by Saurus


Those pictures - ALL the pictures in this thread - are absolutely astounding and the fact that we can look at clear, stunning pictures of another planet makes my heart pound with excitement and joy of the achievements Humans are capable of! :-)

I do wish there was some way to know what we are seeing - what the subjects in the pics actually are of course, but I mean some type of key or little blurb that explains the scale of the pic (with a little indicator pip showing just how big a feature within the picture is) and some indication of whether thè features we are viewing are lying flat on the surface, standing up vertically with respect to the surface, and even a little globe with a dot to show where on Mars the current feature is located. If there is something like this already available please tell me! :-)

And I'm fully ignorant of the geological and weather and other processes on Mars, but I too have a intuitive feeling that these pics are showing some type of Martian life and its growing cycle. I'm sure it's probably a very basic error to imagine the Mars seasons and cycles would be akin to Earths in anything by the most basic ways, but I do wonder if anyone has ever compared pictures of these areas over several years or "seasons"? I'm just wondering if we could somehow do a time lapse overlay, would the areas covered in the geyser's gush happen to show any activity of their òwn in succeeding seasons?

Or to put it bluntly, if these are spores or something like it being ejected - whether it is biological process or some symbiotic nàtural process that the organism uses to spread its own spores - does it look like something took root in the shady areas and is now growing/spewing etc on its own? Overlaying pictures taken over a course of seasons would allow us to see if anything is growing or any activity in the areas that were covered by the geyser/ejection cloud the seasons before.

And if there is activity now, then certainly it would e a strong indicator in support of biological processes instead of purely geologic/temperature differentials only? Does any of that make sense (and apologies for the my choppy attempts to describe what I'm thinking). :-)

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I really like to know what is that? Well, here's two of my favorite pixs from Mars:
1. marsrover.nasa.gov...

2. marsrover.nasa.gov...

reply to post by Saurus


Once again those "flows" are are streaming downhill. its an optical illusion. If you look at this image you can see the flows running down dunes but if that wasn't in the image it would look like alien trees.



click to enlarge.

Originally posted by Saurus
The original pictures of the 'spidery things' strongly suggest that these are indeed vertical "structures". I have posted a few below. (More evidence and pictures can be found from the same source, to which I posted the link at the bottom of this post).

For example, the enlarged original pictures show that the 'spidery things' may have remnants of shadows (which may have been edited out) and roots.

Source: Mars Anomaly Research Report 177

edit on 5/10/2012 by Saurus because: (no reason given)

Why would anyone partially edit out 'shadows', but leave the 'trees' and their roots which are casting those shadows, in full view? (that is if they are trees and shadows, which I doubt).

reply to post by phroziac


You know what is also pretty common on Earth? An Oxygen rich atmosphere.

Mars does not equal earth and there is ZERO evidence to back your claims.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer



can any see a fluid spray going on and any thing below?

Obvious Optical illusion when shown as it was meant to be seen. A lot of these fringe websites will re-orientate images to make them appear to be something they are not. Like the convex /concave illusion on the so called glass tubes. They are trying to lure in traffic by duping those that take manipulated images at face value and do not research on their own. Or they enlarge images so much that you can claim just about anything while the original Mountains, rocks, etc, are blurry.

The raw image from MOC .

ida.wr.usgs.gov...

There's a lot of sand in Aram Chaos.

Geologic and mineralogic mapping of Aram Chaos:
Evidence for a water-rich history

aram.ess.sunysb.edu...

and

Unraveling the Chaos of Aram

themis.asu.edu...

Looks like sand to me.