Miniature Mars mass movement

Episode 163
Mars has some of the biggest landslides in the Solar System, like the ones inside Valles Marineris. But not all mass movements are so massive. This week, Perseverance unintentionally generated what may be one of the smallest ones.

[@JeffSkymaster]

Great before and after photography MarsGuy!

[@MarsGuy]

Great that those images are being shot!

[@Yezpahr]

That mini sinkhole was gorgeous. Thanks for keeping us updated with these details.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks for watching!

[@slabrankle9588]

I think the next Mars rover should be able to turn rocks over. That may sound whimsical but it would reveal a surface that possibly hasn't been exposed to sunlight in 2 billion years. It can be done.

[@otpyrcralphpierre1742]

" ~ represents a Seismic Shift in our ability to explore ~ " Good double entendre' there.

[@MarsGuy]

Glad you liked it.

[@c4t4l4n4]

Treebeard the Ent would love it on Mars! No haste, plenty of time to have a conversation and observe landslides in their glory. 😄

[@yoram_snir]

Love that poetic finish 🪐

[@MarsGuy]

Not sure if it's poetry, but thanks!

[@Valery0p5]

Thanks for making geology so interesting!

[@MarsGuy]

Glad you think so!

[@rjung_ch]

Shows how dry that the sand must be. It doesn't stick well together and it just crumbles down. Thanks Mars Guy 👍💪✌

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks as always. That crust looks really fragile.

[@rubikmonat6589]

​@@MarsGuythe crust looks really interesting, I wonder if it's a dew-like cause, or an evaporation from below.

[@Sheaker]

Thank You Mars Guy! I wish Perseverance could take much more samples! This chipped of coating also looks interesting!

[@MarsGuy]

Yeah, given the limited number of sample tubes, there's always a tension between when to use one and when to preserve it for another rock in the future.

[@markusrobinson3858]

And I thought that when I was playing around in my sandbox as a kid, I was only playing... Turns out I was doing science making landslides. Who knew? Thanks Mars Guy!

[@MarsGuy]

Ha ha!

[@davidwuhrer6704]

The difference between science and playing around is documentation.

[@markusrobinson3858]

@@davidwuhrer6704 Yeah, that and repeatability! I got the repeatability part down really well, really fast! (of course I did set the wall of my parents house on fire rendering my volcano realistic with the contents of a car flare). So I tended to be a little scant on the 'documentation' side of things...

[@garyknight8616]

Great update Mars Guy. Yet again the crusts and coatings are intriguing features. Looking forward to sample return and detailed analysis.

[@MarsGuy]

I hope sample return actually happens...

[@JeffreyBue_imtxsmoke]

It still amazes me that we have these robotic emissaries on Mars exploring and unlocking its secrets.

[@MarsGuy]

Glad for your sense of wonder.

[@moosethompson]

Interesting new perspective.

[@tempemike1]

Thanks Mars Guy! Many decades ago I was determined to be a geologist but life had other plans for me. Your videos are fascinating and make me wistful for what might have been. Production is excellent as is content. Thanks for your hard work on these. Very much appreciated.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks for your encouraging words @tempemike1 (Tempe, AZ by chance?). Glad you can appreciate a little Mars geology.

[@jackieking1522]

Butterfly effect! Tiny vibration of tool on rock causes... tiny sink hole a meter away🤗

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

I dunno if I'd classify it as butterfly effect in this instance. The rock they're abrading likely extends under the entire area that was visually effected, with the sinkhole probably being what had been an air pocket _under_ that rock. So the vibrations were a very direct cause, whereas butterfly effect would be indirect. _(at least in my opinion)_

[@apriladams7119]

I wonder what it was about that rock that caught attention enough to drill. Thank you, Mars Guy. As always, you are THE BEST channel for Mars updates on Perseverance.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks again. And I have the same question.

[@bennyandersen742]

Thanks. Your little updates are 🥇😊

[@MarsGuy]

Glad you like them!

[@markfitzsimmons7544]

I imagine someday future explorers will find the traces we left behind. Thanks for adding common items for scale!

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks, glad you appreciate this.

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

_"Seismic shift"...._ Apt and fitting wordplay. 😉

[@MarsGuy]

Glad you got it!

[@johnmerrett5186]

Thanks MG. JPM 🚀👍🇬🇧😎

[@MarsGuy]

And to you!

[@rickc4317]

Very nicely explained and illustrated, Mars Guy. Good stuff.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks for that!

[@douginorlando6260]

A surprise discovery … revealing the characteristics of Martian sand. Nice!

[@RickBevi-w4w]

Thanks MG it’s interesting to see the channel and all the aftermath of the water moving the stones and any debris that flowed with it. You can see the same effect in Post 10 he cleans roadside pipelines when the water flows it’s the same effect

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks. Looking forward to the traverse of the channel floor.

[@billykershaw2781]

Another gem, nice one Mars Guy.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks for that.

[@CLipka2373]

Thumbs up for your continual faithful following of the mars rover's progress.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks for that.

[@dalphinezara7879]

Wow so fantastic mars landscapes

[@FredPlanatia]

Thanks for your as always observant reporting on the images and video available from NASA on the ongoing exploration of Mars. Your knowedgeable interpretation of the images always makes for an interesting story. p.s. I wish your voice a speedy recovery! That's some dedication.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks as always for your encouraging words!

[@louisjcharlett5804]

Very cool!

[@AeroGraphica]

As always, fascinating !

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks again!

[@douginorlando6260]

Such a porous layer of sand in a low pressure atmosphere makes it a good thermal insulator. Any modeling of sunlight warming induced land slides could use this surprise discovery to estimate the sand’s thermal conductivity when calculating how deep would salty water melt during a Martian day

[@motoflyte]

thank you again

[@MarsGuy]

Thank you too.

[@bluhammer06]

The most amazing thing to me is we are exploring another world with photos and information available to all of us, and no one in my life ever mentions it! I remember the first years of our space program when everything was news worthy. Thanks for giving us a place to see history.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks for appreciating this content.

[@raybeauvais296]

I think it's reassuring the sand flowed downhill and didn't collapse into crusted-over hidden voids. The target kind of looks like it is alone in a 'puddle' of sand. Now we know there is material underneath giving it support.

[@brucebaxter6923]

In the mars trilogy they discussed long runout landslides

[@ericfielding2540]

Thanks for covering the small landslides and sink hole formation. Interesting to see these small mass movements. I wonder why they drilled into that rock that is a relatively loose boulder. Maybe to see where it might have come from.

[@MarsGuy]

Glad you appreciated this. The rock target may have been an opportunity to test SHERLOC.

[@coralie9469]

Wow, that's a pretty neat video, just to see what's happening there! Something we take for granted here, but actually seeing those movements there, wow! When I first saw that sheen, my thoughts went right to "It's Gold, it's Gold, there's gold in them there hills", hahah, it is very interesting!

[@MarsGuy]

Ha, no gold yet!

[@kenleach1198]

Very interesting again ❤

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks again!

[@mick_hyde]

So interesting.

[@glencrandall7051]

That area looks too rough to drive around in. Those rocks look pretty big to me. I wonder what the rovers limit is.🙂🙂

[@fieldofsky3632]

A feel an unease looking at these soil qualities to which you’ve pointed us at; as if the broad landscape will undergo liquifaction, by one little landslide growing and growing to swallow a little explorer

[@farmergiles1065]

Like avalanches in snow? Actually, the most dangerous avalanche locations on Earth are all located where the slopes are within a specific range: if I remember right, 35 to 45 degrees. It's just enough to start the flow moving at increasing rates and pick up more along the way, thundering down upon anything below. The sands of Mars have had considerably more than one winter season to accumulate, and less gravity to shake them loose. I wonder what slope angle would be maximal for Mars. I suspect that it would also have much to do with the properties of the sand itself, but it's intriguing to think that the slopes might not need to be as steep there if the sand is more slippery than ice crystals. It certainly didn't take all that much to get it moving on that relatively gentle slope.

[@fieldofsky3632]

@@farmergiles1065 it’s an interesting thing to ponder: angle of slump, different gravities, particle size, particle shape. Water must play a part; the lack of; no sticky water! The low gravity and thin atmosphere must select extremely fine particles settling in liquid like in places. They must have considered the rover’s might land in a "quick" sand; same too for the lunar missions..

[@farmergiles1065]

@@fieldofsky3632 Indeed. And I'm sure we together haven't done more than scratch at the numbers of variables involved, or the number of unknowns. I wonder how important NASA considers it to investigate this phenomenon further. It certainly could have safety implications for navigating in the terrain where Percy is now.

[@fieldofsky3632]

"Percy" haha never heard that before

[@dissaid]

Thanks man.....

[@MarsGuy]

Yep!

[@billygamer3941]

"...a seismic shift in our ability to explore beyond earth." Très drôle!😉

[@MarsGuy]

Glad you liked it.

[@pixelchi]

Could be a case of Martian low density collapsible soil, where a similar situation on Earth, in dry climates with a prevailing wind, causes blowing sand grains to become weakly glued together by a lattice-like cement of slightly cohesive, moisture sensitive blowing silt grains. If the silt exceeds its optimum moisture content the cement dissolves freeing the sand grains to collapse and form denser layers. I've seen this in eastern and western Colorado.

[@MarsGuy]

Yeah, all the rovers have encountered weakly cemented "soil" crusts, so it seems to be a global process.

[@Rmm1722]

Nice 💯

[@NicolasMedtner]

It just struck me how mindblowing it would be if Perseverance or Curiosty stumbled across a rock with an abrasion patch like that…

[@MarsGuy]

Ha, indeed!

[@Sonnell]

Well, because of the butterfly effect, this small operation can end up causing a huge landslide in the future :)

[@AxionSmurf]

the first fast food on Mars should be "Martian Meal" with an aggressive and carnivorous red devil mascot who's forced to choose between a random limb in a pile of human bodies or the out of this world food at Martian Meal

[@dave8181]

No wonder Percy is having issues traversing this region...

[@georgebarbperkins6793]

As always informative and interesting update. However today there is an annoying intermittent clicking sound in the narration. (Loose dentures? LOL). Can you check your microphone or environment for the source?

[@MarsGuy]

Yeah, not sure what that is (no dentures here!).

[@johncnorris]

You Shook Me All Night Long by AC/DC opportunity missed... 😏

[@MarsGuy]

Ha, true!

[@farmergiles1065]

Or "I'm All Shook Up": (Elvis).

[@S-T-E-V-E]

Could you do a video of what the Mars Rover has discovered so far in the rocks?

[@MarsGuy]

I can try to work in this information now that there are published results.

[@S-T-E-V-E]

@@MarsGuy Thanks!

[@rougehawk]

I miss ingenuity 😭

[@JZsBFF]

Don't cry. She's in helicopter heaven now.

[@steampunkstar_raisin]

#nice

[@Ryan-mq2mi]

Little bit of moisture?

[@earthlingjohn]

Mini sinkhole: a future shaft of sunlight will awaken the creature at the bottom

[@godfreytomlinson2282]

I miss ingenuity

[@copperNick-North]

You can still see it in the ZR0 cam photos of sol 1155, you just have to know where it is, because it is practically a small, more or less distinguishable spot.

[@copperNick-North]

Good episode Mars Guy! Gravity will influence something. Undoubtedly if this is less than that of the Earth and there is "a guy drilling a street with little or a lot of slope" his empty soda can on the ground will vibrate and move less or faster depending on the slope.

[@copperNick-North]

Let's go back to Mars. If there are ferromagnetic pebbles that could maintain a certain "armored cohesion," perhaps a microwave effect excites certain gases (CO2?) or others (H2O?) that "liquefy the sauce a little."

[@copperNick-North]

A cement vessel loads and unloads with special belts with a pattern through which air is blown from below so that the very fine cement dust does not become humid and compact.

[@copperNick-North]

On the other hand, regarding the hole, Mars is less dense than the Earth, perhaps it is necessary to understand that "some hole" must exist, in general, under the Martian surface.

[@copperNick-North]

I don't want to be ashy, but Percy would have to probe to avoid getting into "swampy ground", I guess he's already doing it.

[@copperNick-North]

On the stones there are relief drawings that look like trilobites. Could a very thin sheet of water or another similar liquid or solution moving at a constant flow, as in the caves of stalactites and stalagmites, for a long time, create these "trilobitic" shapes while being composed only of lime deposits, without organic matter from archaic living beings?

[@goodwaterhikes]

😎✌

[@-mike-8134]

Adding a comment...

[@Skandalos]

These rocks all look like theyre from the same material. No diversity at all.

[@Seth-dt3sy]

It's fake we have never been to space

[@farmergiles1065]

Indeed. The idea that we've never been to space is about as fake as it gets.

[@middleagedwhitebloke]

👍🏻 Thank you Mar Guy.

[@MarsGuy]

Thanks for watching.