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ERRORIST

Member

From: OXFORD ALABAMA

Registered: 2004-01-28

Posts: 1,182

Re: New Burns Cliff Image

WOW I never thought to see fan like alluvial deposits here in the photo. It very well could be water Oozing out from time to time cutting those channel like features.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … ...br2.jpg

C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

Re: New Burns Cliff Image

I've suspected as much.  It would explain both the eroded channels in the cliff face and the broken upper layers without requiring either separate events and or oddities of momentum transfer during an impact. 

Unfortunately, there is no conclusive evidence in any single Opportunity photo that can absolutely rule out "dry" (no water) processes at work.  There are a whole bunch of single features that could have been carved by surface water flowing over a cliff face.  The big question right now is: When you put them all together, do you arrive at a formation that could only have been created by water on an unsumerged rock face? 

It's the difference between "could have been" and "could only have been".   

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"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger

ERRORIST

Member

From: OXFORD ALABAMA

Registered: 2004-01-28

Posts: 1,182

Re: New Burns Cliff Image

It could be that snow has melted and the run off caused these channels. I think you can see some up near the top also. Didn't the rover detect snow in the atmosphere awhile back?