Refuting the “Saw Mark” Hypothesis: Evidence for Wood Tissue in Martian Meteorite EETA79001

                               Martian Meteorite EETA79001 – Alleged “Saw Marks”

The white-arrowed structures are not shallow grooves or abrasive streaks. They show tubular outlines, consistent diameters, and longitudinal orientation—hallmarks of biological vessel elements. Unlike random saw scratches, which would typically overlap chaotically or show discontinuous chatter, these features run parallel with even spacing and show segmentation consistent with intervessel pits or scalariform perforation plates.

2. Size and Pattern Match Terrestrial Wood Cells

Earthly vessel elements typically range from 15 to 800 microns in diameter. Based on the 1 cm scale bar in the image, the marked structures fall within this biological range. More importantly, their spatial arrangement mimics the organization of secondary xylem (wood), where aligned vessel elements form transport conduits within plant stems.

3. No Evidence of Cross-Cutting Abrasions

If these were saw marks, we would expect to see them intersecting mineral grains irregularly or continuing uninterrupted across different textural zones. Instead, these tube-like features appear embedded within the meteorite matrix, showing no signs of material displacement, edge tearing, or friction-induced chipping that typically accompanies sawing.

4. Selective Morphology, Not Uniform Grooving

True saw marks are often regular in spacing but lack the complex morphology seen here. Some of the arrowed tubes show wall reinforcement or layered ring-like bands—features seen in plant cells but not in mechanical abrasion. Their preserved 3D relief and structural boundaries are too refined and biologically consistent to be dismissed as incidental.

5. Biological Structures Survive in Meteorites

It is no longer speculative to suggest that complex carbon structures—and even microfossils—can survive interplanetary transit. Martian meteorites like Tissint and Nakhla have yielded traces of organic carbon and even nanostructures interpreted by some as fossil microbes. The presence of tubular cell-like features in EETA79001 deserves scientific scrutiny, not outright dismissal.

Conclusion

Calling these structures “saw marks” is a simplification unsupported by morphology, scale, or geological context. Instead, the evidence strongly favors a biological interpretation: these features are consistent with fossilized wood tissue, likely from a once-living vascular organism on Mars. While extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, the burden now lies on skeptics to prove why these features are abiotic—rather than dismissing them without adequate morphological analysis.

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