Oh, wait- yeah you are 8^)

I agree, Thermal cycling is a likely culprit- As I belabored in my original post, I am not even an amatuer geologist, and what I wrote was nothing more than speculation... I would like it to be true, but unlike the anomalists I fully accept that what I want to be true and what is true may often be very different things... The facts and data will eventually tell the tale...

Personally, I think there is good reason to believe that mars had water in the distant past- ie billions of years ago... but a quick look at a phase diagram for water makes it clear that conditions on mars that allow liquid water on the surface today are rare and fleeting at best... if at all...

I think there may be some subsurface ice, maybe enough to exploit... but mars probably makes the sahara look like a tropical paradise...

I think I speak for the vast majority here when I say we all appreciate your input here... The expertise of the various people here is what makes this place a useful information source.