this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2024
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NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover

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On the plains of Jezero, the secrets of Mars' past await us! Follow for the latest news, updates, pretty pics, and community discussion on NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's most ambitious mission to Mars!

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[–] paulhammond5155@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Possibly. There are some pretty wild temperature swings. I'm not a geologist, but I think rocks usually fracture along the plane of their crystalline structure (as it's the weakest bond)

Let's propose that these eroded boulders have a different crystalline structure due to the way they were formed / modified by groundwater etc., then they maybe they are fracturing in a piecemeal fashion, and basically crumble away due to the wild temperature swings.