Continued

Previous page...

12-2-00

Martian Biology?

Throughout the examination of the many thousands of high resolution Mars images provided by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), several examples of peculiar terrain have surfaced that can be interpreted in terms of large-scale biological activity. Mars may conceivably host some form of hardy fungus, algae or lichen. If this is what the following pictures represent, then Mars is indeed a living world, with tenacious organisms clinging to the surface in such profusion that they may have been misinterpreted as geological phenomena.

So far, NASA has refrained from commenting on these strange formations, except for a vague admission that interpreting the alien geology of Mars has proven to be a "humbling" experience. Hopefully, with a "major Mars announcement" planned for Dec. 7 and increasing mainstream acceptance of liquid water on Mars, we can expect to know the nature of these features in the near future. If NASA's Mars exploration program is in fact the "search for life," the agency may have stumbled across more than it had bargained for in its zeal to find mere microbes.

In a related development, a scientist in Russia has reported detection of photosynthetic pigments in spectroscopic studies of Mars' atmosphere. If confirmed, then this is proof that Mars once harbored plantlife of some sort in the past. Alternatively, the detection of photosynthetic pigment might reflect the present existence of the oddities featured here.

In the image above, organic-looking "Dalmatian spots" cover a wind-smoothed mesa. These spots should look familiar to anyone who's ever seen bacterial growth in a jar of agar. Their low albedo is consistent with a photosynthetic explanation. If not evidence of life, perhaps these are upwellings of tar or some other dark substance revealed by wind erosion. Either explanation promises appreciable impact on our understanding of Mars' geological and biological history.

This collection of extremely dark tufts, apparently connected in places by vine-like formations, is found within cracks in Mars' south polar cap. It's entirely possible that photosynthetic organisms are feasting on carbon dioxide and water ice found deep inside the fissures. If true, this class of Martian life might have profound importance in terms of "terraforming" the Red Planet by spreading dark materials over the polar caps.

This peculiar topology, reminiscent of "lizard skin" or "bubble-wrap," was originally thought to be a computer imaging artifact, such as a moiré. In places, the "bubble-wrap" seems almost porous. Whether this is geological or biological, it's unlike anything yet seen on Mars.


Life in the "Inca City"?

Dark masses similar to the "Dalmation spots" can also be found within the walls of the so-called Inca City, a presumably natural formation often confused with the "City" complex in Cydonia.

If the dark spots consist of windblown sand, then it's strange that they appear so profuse against the "walls," where they would conceivably be sheltered from the Martian winds. Perhaps they are colonies of lichen or microorganisms that have taken hold, immune from windborne dust.

Conversely, the spots could be uprooted dark soil that has never been covered up. This scenario begs the question: Where did the dark material come from in the first place? And why the spotty appearance instead of the uniform darker shade expected from blended surface particulates?


12-9-00

A Natural Mechanism for Pyramid-Making on Mars?

The attention lavished on the Cydonia Mensae region, home of the "Face," has distracted attention from pyramidal formations elsewhere on Mars. While several of these appear decidedly natural, others are more open to interpretation. Can there be a purely geological mechanism capable of producing artificial-looking pyramids?

Architect Robert Fiertek's interpretation of the "City" based on Viking data. Note the abundance of "pyramids." The MGS has shown several of these features to be quite unlike the forms depicted here.

Of the features in Cydonia, the only formations that can rightfully be dubbed "pyramids" are the City Pyramid and the D&M; Pyramid. Other City formations scrutinized in the Viking photos, such as the NW City Formation and City Mound, while interesting, are less geometric and possibly the least relevant in terms of confirming artificiality. But while the Mars Global Surveyor has demolished some of the reconstructive models based on Viking data, the new images have also unveiled tantalizing new formations. Either we are dealing with exotic geology or artificial structures -- or, as suggested in previous installments, a curious combination of both.

The first "pyramids" found on Mars were brought to public attention by Carl Sagan, who wrote of them in his book "Cosmos" and pointedly (no pun intended) referred to them in his television series of the same name. Located in Elysium, these striking formations are generally dismissed as faceted mountains sculpted by abrasive Martian winds. While the "Pyramids of Elysium" lack complimentary "Faces," their tetrahedral design is actually more striking, to my mind, than many of the City formations originally identified by Richard Hoagland. Then again, their very simplicity also argues against their having an esoteric heritage; three-sided forms are not unknown in geology.

A pyramidal formation in Elysium.

While the Elysium pyramids are intriguing, their lack of internal and contextual complexity makes them difficult to assess as candidate artifacts. The formations in Cydonia, being close together and displaying more sophisticated morphology (both the D&M; Pyramid and the City Pyramid are five-sided) lend themselves more easily to an architectural interpretation.

The eroded, pyramid-shaped formation shown above is perhaps the most intriguing of the pyramidal formations photographed by the MGS. While it could certainly be a wind-sculpted mountain, its cleanly divided facets arouse some suspicion. Also, there are several straight lines seemingly etched into the terrain to the formation's left, as well as what appears to be a five-sided "crater" (?) near the feature's lower right flank. This contextual detail, however slight compared to the geometry seen at Cydonia, is harder to reconcile with wind-faceting; distinct atmospheric and geological processes would have been required to work in tandem to produce the above feature. Such cannot be said for the relatively simple pyramids in Elysium and elsewhere on Mars.

The quadrant of the D&M; Pyramid imaged by the MGS.

A number of theories have been put forward to explain various pyramidal formations on Mars. Wind and even giant crystal growth have been suggested as culprits. Cartographer Erol Torun's analysis of the D&M; Pyramid in Cydonia rules out geology; in his view, the D&M; must be artificial since its detail and proposed mathematical consistencies are incompatible with blind natural forces (to say nothing of its incriminating proximity to the Face).

While Torun's analysis is useful, it's based largely on a speculative reconstruction derived from low-resolution Viking images. Future images of the D&M; taken by the MGS will help us evaluate the accuracy of Torun's model. For example, are the "buttresses" evident on the Viking frames actual features? So far, the only high-resolution imagery obtained of the D&M; shows only a single eroded quadrant, which isn't nearly enough upon which to base a credible evaluation.

However, it's safe to say that when and if new pictures of the D&M; are available, we can expect the massive formation to have some superficial characteristics typical of natural formations; build-ups of sand and other apparent deformations should be expected, especially of a feature of the D&M;'s massive size. Critics of the Artificiality Hypothesis universally ignore the fact that the anomalies under investigation are almost inconceivably ancient.

It would be absurd to expect smooth, polished surfaces when dealing with objects possibly hundreds of thousands of year old. Any artificial structure left deserted in a Mars-like erosive environment would necessarily be coated in dust and smoothed by meteoric rain, dust, and possibly flowing water. (Mounting evidence suggests that the Face and related features once protruded from a shallow lake.) Only the D&M;'s giant size has allowed us to reconstruct its original dimensions (assuming, hypothetically, that it was built to architectural tolerances). The same argument can be applied to the Face.

This is not an attempt to rationalize away the Martian enigmas' obviously degraded appearance. The same phenomenon greets viewers of the Great Sphinx in Egypt or the faces of Mount Rushmore: seen from a distance, the intended morphology is quite plain; seen up close, the inevitable fissures, cracks and abrasions suddenly come into focus.

The MGS spacecraft, with its exquisite resolution, has provided us with a novel forensic controversy: how to distinguish possible ruins from natural formations when both, given that they exist, are hundreds of thousands of years old -- if not older? The MGS' mapping mission ends at the close of 2000. We direly need new photos of the Cydonia features if planetary SETI is to flourish as an empirical discipline.


1-16-00

Additional Unusual Surface Features

I haven't added to The Cydonian Imperative in over a month, and it hasn't been for a lack of subject material. The Martian surface continues to yield bizarre formations that suggest liquid water and perhaps even relatively simple life.

Diligent anomaly hunter Efrain Palermo has located additional oddities that seem to bear out the hypothesis that Mars is host to far more liquid water than indicated by NASA estimates. For more evidence of liquid water, visit Efrain's website.

In the above picture, a dark trail of material can be seen "bleeding" out of an irregularly shaped mesa. What are we looking at? Peculiar "stains" such as this invite speculation. NASA's publicly maintains that flows such as this are composed of dark dust, uprooted and scattered by wind.

Are the streaks visible in the image above composed of dust or water? If they are simple landslides, their radial configuration is decidedly strange. Perhaps it's more likely that the knobby mesa is leaking subsurface water. If so, then the stains are most likely recent, as they're still visible. New images by the Mars Global Surveyor may help us determine if these are transient features, as would be expected of flowing water, or depositions of dark soil.

The "monolith" stands in stark contrast to the surrounding terrain.

Additionally, Palermo has located a unique feature dubbed the "Monolith," an apparently cylindrical formation poking out of the otherwise flat Martian desert. The feature's solidity and definition are a matter of some debate. It has been posited that the solid-seeming "Monolith" may be a Martian dust devil caught in the act of forming. It's also possible that the "Monolith" is an example of a Martian geyser.

Finally, some recent online discussion has centered around the following formation, called the "ear" (for obvious reasons).

While this is almost certainly a natural formation, its regularity and isolation from similar features are intriguing. My layman's interpretation is that it's an extinct lake.

Back to MTVI