Last night, upon the first photographs of the polar valley on Mars where the Phoenix spacecraft has set down, I noted that there appeared to be wave like patterns in the soil. Here’s a new photograph of one of the shapes from that pattern up close:
I’m surprised to see that it’s a rough square, not a circle. But then, that may be because I’m not a geologist. NASA claims that similar patterns are found in Arctic soil on Earth.
Of course, there is the alternative explanation that Martian life forms like to play a large version of checkers.
Also keep in mind that this photograph is of the soil very close to where the Phoenix lander. Contents may have settled upon shipment.
