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Water Signs And Dark Spots

There are many signs of previously flowing water all over the surface of Mars. Here is an example of apparently recent channeling together with enigmatic dark spots.

Dark Spots on Channeled Surface

These channels are found in a pit on the north side of a crater near 61 degrees south latitude. The season is early spring, so the scene is partly covered with frost. This frost may be composed of CO2 or water or a combination. Its thickness is difficult to tell. Note the thick mantle of soft-looking material on the upper surface. Note the layers seen within the upper mantle as well as layers beneath. The channels appear to originate at a particular level, several dozen meters below the top surface.

Spots like these appear near the poles during the spring. Most are explained as parts of the underlying surface being revealed by the sublimation of the overlying frosts. Why these spots occur as they do, however is unknown.

Although all similar spots may have a similar origin, and that origin may well be due to the mechanisms described (defrosting dunes), the initial appearance of spots such as these was surprising, even shocking, to planetary scientists: their appearance suggested nothing so much as bacterial or mold colonies! This particular example is intriguing because it is one of the very few known that is found in association with recent-appearing channeling.

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