Mysterious textures
Dune cannibals
December 31, 2012Bright and dark sand on a dune
January 11, 2013
A piece of Mars: Dunes don’t usually have a rough surface texture like these do. It’s not clear what’s going on. Are they ancient dunes that are being eroded? What causes this particular texture? It seems unique to high elevations on Mars. Nobody knows yet. (HiRISE PSP_009448_1670, NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
2 Comments
One has to Wonder just What these REALLY are. I too ASSUME they are Dunes eroding over Time.
The problem is that their thermal inertia suggests they may be made of dust or silt-sized grains, much smaller particles that are found in typical dunes (either on Earth or Mars). So they may be something completely new to us.