Some time ago there was much excitement in the press and in the scientific community about these and similar images.
The above image shows a photograph from Mars on the left and something similar on the earth. The artifact on the
right is caused by water erosion. The similarity in features suggested the idea that the features seen on Mars are
also caused by water.
I suggest that these features can be explained without needing to resort to water. My primary basis for this suggestion is having played in a sandy landslide in Guatemala. There were many features that looked just like these pictures, but they were caused not from rainfall, but by the falling sand itself. There is something about the texture of the sand that seems to encourage these patterns, but I don't know what it is. I remember, though, watching in fascination as miniature land slides would roll down the channels already formed. These periodically recurring slides seemed to reinforce the existing channels.
Here you see two more pictures from Mars. The explanation at the time the pictures were taken was that there must have
been a water source beneath the Martian surface that at some point oozed through the side of the cliff, causing a slushy
slide. This spring, while visiting Science World, in Vancouver, BC, I saw something that was nearly identical to
these pictures.
Pictured here is the exhibit of blowing sand at Science World. A cylindrical enclosure is topped with glass to
afford visibility while retaining the blowing sand. Inside the closure is a fan which can be steered using a wheel located
outside the enclosure. In this picture, a child has steered the fan to blow towards the upper right of the image.
When I first saw the sand features that matched the images of Mars, above, I didn't have my camera with me. So I returned the following day with camera in hand and tried to duplicate the scenario. Unfortunately, the sand was not behaving quite the same, and the effects I had seen, while present, were not nearly as bold. Here are a few of the pictures I managed to take. I will update this site with furthere thoughts and possibly further experiments.
If you would like to send comments to the author, please send an email to mars@the-light.com.