Starship Asterisk*

It's a great image and no doubt one that geologists will be able to study for some time. The detail is amazing.

I notice that just below the "with a brief explanation" there are what look like 3 landslides that seem to end abruptly still high up. I wonder why their material has not slipped all the way down?

[quote="ta152h0"]by the way, not too long ago an object struck the moon and registered optically. Has the LRO spotted the crater ?[/quote]
Optical meteor impacts on the Moon are recorded all the time. But yes, a particularly large one last year generated a crater [url=http://www.space.com/24008-moon-crater-meteor-crash-photo.html]visible to LRO[/url].

by the way, not too long ago an object struck the moon and registered optically. Has the LRO spotted the crater ?

" Captain Kirk, deploy the paraglider with optical devices. We need to get to the bottom of this, so to speak "

[b][i][url]http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Martian_scars[/url][/i][/b]

Don't forget, those of you that are seeing water there, that the colour is exaggerated to highlight differences in the materials. To our unaided eyes, everything in this picture would be a more or less dull orange-brown. There is certainly no standing or flowing water -- Alas!.

From the "above image" link, I read, "A dark patch appears to pool like spilt ink across the debris. It is most likely loose material that has slid down the walls from an intermediate layer. Melted ice could have played a role by weakening the rocks to create its flow-like appearance."

Rob

What an extraordinary picture, with several areas that look wet!
The base of the rectangular depression and below the the slopes to the right. Plus the deeply eroded slopes themselves, as if by water.

It looks as if the water is still lying in the deprrsison below those slopes, so much so, I had to read and re-read the blurb, expecting the find "artists's reconstruction" or similar.
JOhn

[quote="moles1138"]Do you think this is the quarry from which they got the rock to build the Face? :wink:[/quote]
Not likely. The face is over 2600 miles away from this slump area and little green men wouldn't be able to transport them that far without the help of aliens which don't exist :mrgreen:

Do you think this is the quarry from which they got the rock to build the Face? :wink:

The Top of the mesa...not eroded....erosion starts at the sides....ice, at the side of the cliffs, melts, and flows a bit...then every time it is warm enough...flows a bit more. The sand on top, keeps that from melting...but at the edges...there is no insulation. The Erosion appears to start IN THE SAND...there is erosion at the top...along the edges...before it gets to HARDER MATERIAL...it is like the SPHINX....different layers of material, different densities, etc...

I used to be of the opinion that the erosion was sand....flowing down from the top....being dry, it flakes, and some material comes off, and erodes...but now, I am no longer of that opinion...this appears to be moisture. Moisture ALONG THE WHOLE CLIFF SIDE...However....looking at the large full picture...the erosion follows the Rock and Sand, ON TOP.....So...it could still be SAND and Rock erosion to some extent...and it has SCOURED the cliff side...But I have a more open mind at least...because that slide, looks like a Slide on Earth...

At the bottom of the cliffs, on the right side of the image, are places that look like water "POOLED"....and made a small lake, or at least a pond, that then dried....

I wonder at the time scale...WHEN did this happen...was it when Mars had oceans???? Or was it more recent? This type of Slide on EARTH, is generally Water Saturation of the hillside, there is too much weight,....then it shears...and collapses.

GREAT IMAGE!!! And at least it got me thinking...
:---[===] *

Tomorrow's APOD could be a planetary nebula! :D

Assume that the black(er) areas are liquid based in origin. From appearances, that seems reasonable. Are we seeing oil or tar released from the substrate as a result of the 'slump' of the extrusion? Perhaps Mars suffers from some sort of hidden black-mold or algae (active life)caused by excess moisture?

You fools! That's a sand worm!

Eerily similar to the deadly mudslide in Oso, Wa.

[img2]http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/03/26/article-2588991-1C91B3F100000578-203_964x684.jpg[/img2]

[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140812.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_140812.jpg[/img] [size=150]Collapse in Hebes Chasma on Mars[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] What's happened in Hebes Chasma on Mars? Hebes Chasma is a depression just north of the enormous [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140511.html]Valles Marineris[/url] canyon. Since the depression is unconnected to other surface features, it is [url=http://1funny.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/confused-dog.jpg]unclear where[/url] the internal material went. Inside [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebes_Chasma]Hebes Chasma[/url] is [url=http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_016818_1785]Hebes Mensa[/url], a 5 kilometer high mesa that appears to have undergone an unusual partial collapse -- a collapse that might be providing clues. The [url=http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2013/10/Hebes_Chasma_mesa]above image[/url], taken by the robotic [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Express]Mars Express[/url] spacecraft currently orbiting Mars, shows great details of the chasm and the unusual horseshoe shaped indentation in the central mesa. Material from the mesa appears to have flowed onto the floor of the chasm, while a possible dark layer appears to have pooled like ink on a downslope landing. A recent [url=http://geomorphology.sese.asu.edu/Papers/Adams_etal_hebes_chasma_salt_tectonics_geol.pdf]hypothesis holds[/url] that salty rock composes some lower layers in Hebes Chasma, with the salt dissolving in melted ice flows that drained through holes into an underground [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquafer]aquifer[/url].

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