PostScript: There is actually a wealth of good information online, it's simply a matter of fidning, and I find that Google is actually a fairly good tool for rooting it out, as long as results arebsed on a good serach and taken with a grain of salt. The funny thing is, you actually wrote a fairly interesting laymen's explanation back in 2001, and it was, oddly enough, one of the first results to come up in a google Search based on (Mars CO2 sublimation). You could have simply pointed me to that article... I'm actually finding it fairly accessible and understandable. Don't know that I agree with everythign in it, but I'm always happy to read up and expand the ol' noggin'. ;o]

http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/mars/Carbon_Dioxide.html

http://www.mars-lunar.net/Water/Mars%20Polar%20Caps/Mars.polar.caps.html

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060816_mars_icecaps.html

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=20392

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=10019

http://cmex.ihmc.us/SiteCat/sitecat2/mars.htm

All things with a grain of salt of course. Nonetheless, a multitude of viewpoints is useful in evaluating all the raw image data/evidence. The last article, of course, makes a number of assumptions that are not exposed as assumptions. Specifically, things like:

"There are, however, many features on the surface of Mars which appear to have been created by great volumes of liquid. The current lack of water and erosion by liquids on Mars has kept the surface nearly unchanged for billions of years. This offers geologists a look into the ancient past of the planet as they view craters, volcanos and canyons."

These are highly unsubstantiated claims, IF we assume that water and fluids are not the ONLY cause of surface formation / deformation. IE the article makes the assumption that fluids are the ONLY thing that could carve channels. This is not so.

As I've shown in other posts, electricity CAN carve surface features (and lightning appears to form bands around the axis). Lightning on Earth has carved rilles/channels. Granted they've been on a small terrestrial scale, with lower intensity discharges than might be expected on Mars. We would expect that Mars' surface would become MORE charged than Earth's due to the much smaller protective magnetic fields and/or atmosphere [on Mars].

So, anyway, the point is that if the assumption that fluid carving is the only sculpting force possible is incorrect, then the timelines may be incorrect as well (IE, to state as fact that the surface has been "unchanged" for billions of years appears fallacious, on its face; we've seen dust devils creating tracks on the surface, we know what Lightning does on Earth and there is NO reason to believe it doesn't do the same things on Mars: tearing channels, creating Lichtenberg patterns, etc.).

But assumptions based on incomplete understanding seem to be par for the course in astrophysics and astrogeology. Now, I'm not saying that every single feature on Mars is carved by electricity (maybe I should), but we should not completely dismiss it from creating ANY features of Mars. It may well work alongside other surface eroding features like winds, dust storms, etc. I simply feel that three is plenty of evidence of electrical activity still going on (the Dust Devils, if nothing else, are a prety sure sign of electrical activity; though I'd say the Lichtenberg formations area pretty sure sign as well, since we KNOW what causes the very specific Lichtenberg patterns: catastrophic dielectric breakdown of an insulating surface that has become highly charged).

But, getting back to the other point, there's plenty of great resources online, and I'll try to do a bit more reading online and get to the library if/when I have time. IF anyone has specific keywords they think I should look up, let me know. I don't need hand-holding, I'm QUITE self-sufficient and can do my own look-ups on related resources from reliable sources. Just wouldn't mind a few keywords to get me started. One usually leads to another, kind of like a game of dominoes. For now, CO2 sublimation on Mars seems like a good starting point to see what current THEORY says. =o]