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Odd Things Encountered On Mars' Surface

Here's a couple of interesting objects on Mars' surface, but spotted by the Mars Global Surveyor.

The first in in the Ceti Mensa region and appears to be a disk-shaped object, that has skidded to a halt, embedding itself in the sand, gouging a trench behind it, into which sand has fallen and dunes formed. The disk is estimated to be 12 to 15 metres diameter.
The entire video is worth watching for a detailed analysis:

View attachment 49149

The next is of three perfectly aligned objects, resembling conical towers, in the Terra Meridiani region.
They are estimated as being 240 metres apart and several hundred metres tall.
The video is in Spanish, with close-ups and analysis starting around the 3 minute mark. He also describes other apparently anomalous objects in the vicinity:

View attachment 49150

With the first one all along the trench there are objects similar to the terminal "disc". That suggests to me an erosion event exposing some different geology, which has different erosion qualities. Ancient volcanic intrusions being exposed?
 
Those 3 giant phalluses (phalli?) .... has Jeff Bezos been there already ???
 
Here's a couple of interesting objects on Mars' surface, but spotted by the Mars Global Surveyor.

The first in in the Ceti Mensa region and appears to be a disk-shaped object, that has skidded to a halt, embedding itself in the sand, gouging a trench behind it, into which sand has fallen and dunes formed. The disk is estimated to be 12 to 15 metres diameter.
The entire video is worth watching for a detailed analysis:

View attachment 49149

The next is of three perfectly aligned objects, resembling conical towers, in the Terra Meridiani region.
They are estimated as being 240 metres apart and several hundred metres tall.
The video is in Spanish, with close-ups and analysis starting around the 3 minute mark. He also describes other apparently anomalous objects in the vicinity:

View attachment 49150

I just listened to the Spanish commentary... There’s an awful lot of unfounded speculation, but it is very interesting to see a second group with the same distancing. However, I think it's the ol' Mars faces all over again... Seeing patterns, and making the enormous leap that nature cannot produce them.
 
I also don't see, given the shadows and high sun angle, how he concluded they are spindly towers or cones.
 
Perseverance spots a bird and small step pyramid:

View attachment 48739
View attachment 48740

I'm more curious about the small mid sky objects ~ what are they, distance/range markers?
Screenshot 2021-12-13 114902.jpg
 
With the first one all along the trench there are objects similar to the terminal "disc". That suggests to me an erosion event exposing some different geology, which has different erosion qualities. Ancient volcanic intrusions being exposed?
Looks like transverse dune formations, caused by wind depositing sand at regular intervals. The 'disk' is just a complete semicircular barchan dune that extends right across the trench.

I'm more interested in the reason for the formation of the trench in the first place. Looks like some kind of fracture in a very evenly stratified layer, perhaps caused by a Mars-quake or water movement.
 
I also don't see, given the shadows and high sun angle, how he concluded they are spindly towers or cones.
They are only a few tens of metres high - simply lumps of rock that have somehow resisted the dominant form of erosion here, which is probably wind erosion.
 
They are only a few tens of metres high - simply lumps of rock that have somehow resisted the dominant form of erosion here, which is probably wind erosion.
Aligned to sand born wind (shot) blasting away at a firm, or maybe previously solidified surface crust?
Especially as most of the surrounding 'rock' also bares similar strata forms.
 

Flowers on Mars? Photo of strange growth taken by NASA rover likely not alien life


There’s still no extraterrestrial life growing on Mars, despite some chatter around a fascinating photo snapped on our planetary neighbor. NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured an intriguing image of a bloom-like entity on the Red Planet, but scientists say it’s no alien flower or plant.

mars-in-bloom-f-798284-500x320.jpg



Curiosity acquired the picture using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on February 24. However, hopes of a flower garden are nothing more than fantasy. The coral-like structure – smaller than a penny — is believed to be a so-called diagenetic feature formed after sediment first was deposited.

https://www.studyfinds.org/mars-flower-nasa-curiosity-rover/

maximus otter
 

Flowers on Mars? Photo of strange growth taken by NASA rover likely not alien life


There’s still no extraterrestrial life growing on Mars, despite some chatter around a fascinating photo snapped on our planetary neighbor. NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured an intriguing image of a bloom-like entity on the Red Planet, but scientists say it’s no alien flower or plant.

mars-in-bloom-f-798284-500x320.jpg



Curiosity acquired the picture using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on February 24. However, hopes of a flower garden are nothing more than fantasy. The coral-like structure – smaller than a penny — is believed to be a so-called diagenetic feature formed after sediment first was deposited.

https://www.studyfinds.org/mars-flower-nasa-curiosity-rover/

maximus otter
I wonder if they could be a Martian form of some kind of Anaerobic Fugus, different to Earthly forms of life?
 
Looks like a less developed form of Desert Rose to me.

1646299684868.jpeg



Saharan gypsum desert rose from Tunisia (length 47 cm)

Baryte rose from Cleveland County, Oklahoma (size:10.2 x 7.1 x 5.5 cm)

Large desert rose formation in the Tunisian desert
A desert rose is an intricate rose-like formation of crystal clusters of gypsumor baryte, which include abundant sand grains.[1] The "petals" are crystals flattened on the c axis, fanning open in radiating clusters.

The rosette crystal habit tends to occur when the crystals form in arid sandy conditions,[1] such as the evaporation of a shallow salt basin. The crystals form a circular array of flat plates, giving the rock a shape similar to a rose blossom. Gypsum roses usually have better defined, sharper edges than baryte roses. Celestine and other bladed evaporite minerals may also form rosette clusters.[1] They can appear either as a single rose-like bloom or as clusters of blooms, typically ranging from pea-sized to 4 inches (10 cm) in diameter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_rose_(crystal)
 
Ah, I see - I was only a aware of the plant.
So, after checking the gypsum/selenite forms of this, it seems it forms from the moisture content in the atmosphere? So does that mean that Mars does have a moisture content in it's winds then?
 

Flowers on Mars? Photo of strange growth taken by NASA rover likely not alien life


There’s still no extraterrestrial life growing on Mars, despite some chatter around a fascinating photo snapped on our planetary neighbor. NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity captured an intriguing image of a bloom-like entity on the Red Planet, but scientists say it’s no alien flower or plant.

mars-in-bloom-f-798284-500x320.jpg



Curiosity acquired the picture using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, on February 24. However, hopes of a flower garden are nothing more than fantasy. The coral-like structure – smaller than a penny — is believed to be a so-called diagenetic feature formed after sediment first was deposited.

https://www.studyfinds.org/mars-flower-nasa-curiosity-rover/

maximus otter

Anyone else getting Zen garden vibes from that photo?

zen.png
 
Maybe they (the lines) are possibly formed by the same process as the structures of the desert rose, i.e. by a moisture content within the winds forming the ripples on the gritty type sands of Mars?
I'm not a geologist but we know there is water ice in the soil on Mars, and lots of past water activity. When soil temperatures rise during the day, perhaps either melting or sublimating water forms these concretions as it evaporates out of the soil.
 
I'm not a geologist but we know there is water ice in the soil on Mars, and lots of past water activity. When soil temperatures rise during the day, perhaps either melting or sublimating water forms these concretions as it evaporates out of the soil.
You mean something like this?
1646306358582.png
 
Ah, I see - I was only a aware of the plant.
So, after checking the gypsum/selenite forms of this, it seems it forms from the moisture content in the atmosphere? So does that mean that Mars does have a moisture content in it's winds then?
Did have. That formation could have formed thousands of years ago.
 
Did have. That formation could have formed thousands of years ago.
Right. Though what I can't quite understand about this, is that if they were formed thousands of years ago, how could they stand up to thousands of very strong wind blown dust storms. Wouldn't it be just sand-blasted away to nothing over that period of time?
 
Right. Though what I can't quite understand about this, is that if they were formed thousands of years ago, how could they stand up to thousands of very strong wind blown dust storms. Wouldn't it be just sand-blasted away to nothing over that period of time?
It could be quite recent - or it might not even be water, could be carbon dioxide ice sublimating and creating these formations somehow, or some other non-terrestrial process.
 
Right. Though what I can't quite understand about this, is that if they were formed thousands of years ago, how could they stand up to thousands of very strong wind blown dust storms. Wouldn't it be just sand-blasted away to nothing over that period of time?
Don’t assume Mars dust storms are anything like dust storms here. The surface atmospheric pressure on Mars is so low we would consider it a pretty good vacuum on Earth. The “wind” - such as it is - is incredibly tenuous. And the airborne dust tends to be the very finest of grains in atmospheric suspension. More akin to soot or talcum powder.
The low atmospheric pressure is why the small NASA helicopter drone trialled recently needed an incredibly high rotor RPM to fly.
 
It appears to be a moulded plastic form - not a rock form ~ at first look?
Then again. . . close-up, it shows a sculpted and slightly chipped surface, so I guess it's probably a odd looking relic of a smooth part of rock?
 
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