Is this a picture of a piece of timber...on Mars?Comments on what this could be from any current or former geologists reading this blog would be appreciated...
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"Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it."
--Andre Gide (Author and Nobel Prize winner, 1869-1947)
Is this a picture of a piece of timber...on Mars?| notional (adj.): pertaining to or expressing a notion or idea. |
| misconduct: because some views are apparently 'incorrect' to have these days. |
3 comments:
Quite obviously this is simply a Cadbury Flake that somehow got left behind by someone who visited our planet prior to heading over to see what was going on on the red ball nearby.
T.R. Ted (who cant remember his password...)
In the words of Ren & Stimpy: Everyone loves a log! Why would Martians be any different?
Ok, ok! I'll have another stab. Interestingly, out of the 111 responses on that article (well, the ones I skimmed through) not one person actually attempted to answer the conundrum.
Strangely, this "log" reminds me of a little encounter I had in Antarctica. We all know that the aliens prefer to visit Earth's more remote locations and one day I was talking to this Martian who was passing by on his summer holidays ...
Sorry, wrong story.
A person brought me a piece of rock that they thought may be petrified wood. It was very convincing! The wood was sort of rippled, a bit like bark, and almost flaky, like you'd expect wood layers or rings to flake off each other.
The truth was much cooler.
The rock I was brought was called a schist and was the product of some sandstone being squashed and squished in the area of the crust close to the mantle. This area is where rock becomes sort of plastic and will deform. Often the rock will then slowly continue it's journey and eventually surface as really hard rock. Other examples are gneiss (nice!) and meta-rocks i.e. metamorphic rocks. The one I saw in Antarctica was a great example of this.
The rock in the Mars photo could be a similar thing. (Remember, I'm taking a pluck based on one photo. Don't use my guess as the basis for any protracted argument!) The "plank" looks like it could be the exposed end of a layer of tilted, metamorphosed sandstone. The metamorphosed rock is generally quite hard and will often persist whilst the rock around it weathers away.
Some key bits of information missing here are:
1. My knowledge of the tectonic regime on Mars. I believe there was plate tectonics which accounts for the difference between the high- and lowlands and would provide the opportunity for what I have described ... but I'm not sure.
2. Context! Rocks all need to be looked at in context. Is this log maybe actually a twig? How does the surrounding land lie? Where would water have drained? Are there other "logs" that are aligned suggesting a linear terrestrial feature?
3. Given the atmospheric composition, why would trees grow that look anything like those on Earth?
Food for thought.
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