Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to New pictures!

prevailing winds

IIRC Pathfinder images showed a trail of soil from various rocks. This was supposed to be from the prevailing wind which built up soil in a tail in the lee of the rocks. In this image the trails are very clear and I think much bigger than at Pathfinder.

This could just mean there is more loose soil here though. Interestingly if you look at the shape of the rocks they point the same way as the tails. This seems to imply the prevailing wind hasn't changed for a long time and these rocks have eroded into this shape from the wind.

Therefore it would seem these shapes are wind erosion, not another kind, is that correct? Some rocks have no tail at all which may mean they moved "recently" for some reason. For example the largest rock in the foreground has no tail of dust. This rock also doesn't have a shape aligned with the dust tails.

Maybe the dust was blown away by the landing. Another possibility is some rocks may be ejecta or have been moved by meteor impacts, or the impacts created a wind which blew away some of the tails.

It would be interesting to see if these tailless rocks were aligned with any of the craters nearby.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/rover-images/jan-06-2004/smooth_rocks-380-285.jpg

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