Looks like water to me. Looks like a frozen lake to me. Looks like a large
body of frozen water is going through spring breakup. Click link for a
larger view.
I added 50% more pixels and raised the dpi.
This is one of the images that many people think shows some mysterious form
of plant life growing in the Martian south polar spring. If that is so then such life,
as all life we know, requires water. What kind of water or ice is this? I don't know.
Could be carbon dioxide. Could be what Martian life forms use for nourishment.
I don't think it is so far fetched an idea. If there is water - any kind of
water, as we are seeing from recent discoveries here on Earth - then there is likely
some form of life making a living in that water.
The hot Mars topic now is about the possibility of giant trees on Mars.
There may or may not be "trees" in this area. Maybe it is just the landscape defrosting.
Or perhaps there are other
types of ground covering plants that look from a great distance like the top of a forest. One thing
for sure, if there is plant life on Mars it is not going to be the same as plant life
on Earth. Maybe it will be like our prehistoric plants. Or maybe there is not going to
be any comparison. And why should there be? After all this is Mars.
Images like the one above, suggesting a frozen source of water, add to this
idea of vegetation.
There are other features from the MOC Image m0902042 that strongly suggest
the presence of water - active, flowing water.
Sinkhole -- Click for a bigger window.
NASA calls m0902042 on the PDS Browse Page "traverse from S polar layer terrain to cratered terrain".
This does not look like a crater to me. It looks like a sinkhole. Notice the scalloped
edges around the rim. See page 4 of
In Search of the Cydonia Face.
