Comments on: Opportunity Discovers Little Martian Spheres That Don’t Taste Like ‘Blueberries’

By: Ainz

Ainz — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 20:10:14 +0000

Sort of like a pearl, but without the oyster?

By: alcaray

alcaray — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 19:15:35 +0000

I’ve found that ethyl alcohol has an interesting effect on those processes.

By: podrock

podrock — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 15:15:37 +0000

First guess: "oolites" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oolite

They are usually formed in warm, supersaturated, shallow, highly agitated marine water intertidal environments,though some are formed in inland lakes. The mechanism of formation starts with a small fragment of sediment acting as a 'seed', e.g. a piece of a shell. Strong intertidal currents wash the 'seeds' around on the seabed where they accumulate layers of chemically precipitated calcite from the supersaturated water.

(edited with link and quote)

By: podrock

podrock — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 15:13:21 +0000

As I am currently researching beach sedimentation processes.

Sort of.

By: Ainz

Ainz — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 12:13:29 +0000

Especially in light of this

By: RobVG

RobVG — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 02:24:45 +0000

“The spherules at Kirkwood do not have the iron-rich composition of the blueberries. They also differ in concentration, distribution and structure. Some of the spherules in this image have been partially eroded away, revealing concentric internal structure.”

By: TB

TB — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 00:46:36 +0000

On Earth, such spheres are normally formed by accretion in some kind of liquid environment.

Here's an article that shows Earth equivalents (note bottle cap in photo below). Unfortunately, a lot of the links there are crapped out. I also hope Podrock checks in on this.

By: ER

ER — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:56:55 +0000

These things have me baffled.

I’ve seen similar shapes in stream beds, but they were much larger, 20-50 mm. I have no idea what these things are.

By: RobVG

RobVG — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:46:19 +0000

Wiki

By: RobVG

RobVG — Sat, 15 Sep 2012 23:21:35 +0000

Too bad you didn’t pocket some.

The reason I shared my “theory” this time was the fact the article mentioned a “concentric internal structure”. That would be consistent with a “hailstone” type formation.

Now time for ER or Pod to shoot me down