Thanks for the interesting articles. I've spent alot of time in the desert, but I never bothered to find out that much about lichen before. That spheroid that is buried in the rock from the very first set of photos of the outcrop look a little the spheres you refered to in the first article. That's not to say that is what they are, but it is interesting. I've only perused the first article, but I'll try to find the time to read the others you've posted.

Furthermore, I was not aware of the new research on desert varnish. I wrote a paper for a glaciology class a long time ago about dating surfaces such as this using Electron Spin Resonace. It was a bit over my head, but what I recall was the powerful influence of cosmic radiation on the developement of desert varnishes. Like the blue bottles you find in the desert were not originally blue, but radiation casues an electron to pop into what is known as a color center. The electron bounces 'round at the same wavelength as blue light, so they look blue after time. Many of these rock on Mars have been getting blasted for longer than any desert has ever existed on Earth.

Another thought, do the bacteria create the varnish or do they just live there? The article proposes a possible mechanism, seems reasonable, I'll have to think on it. But correlation is not causation. These are interesting analogs.

I'm not sure that these rovers will prove your model right for I don't think that their instruments will provide the rigorous proof needed for this assertion. Hopefully more rovers with the tools need to examine these issues will someday land on Mars.

Oh, thanks for putting your cards on the table and providing us with Scientific arguments to support your assertion.