A recent volcanic eruption on Mars?
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on December 16, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The science team labels the two darkened patches in the picture “plume-like features,” suggesting that the dark material was eruptive material thrown out from the depressions in a volcanic venting, that then settled on the nearby surrounding terrain.
Is that a correct interpretation? It is certainly strengthened by a different feature located about 550 miles to the northwest that looks almost the same. There, researchers theorize that the dark material surrounding a surface fissure was caused by a small volcanic event that occurred somewhere between 50,000 to 210,000 years ago. For that other location, scientists concluded as follows:
After careful comparison of this symmetrical dark feature with other dark wind-caused streaks in this region, the scientists concluded that it was not caused by wind, but is the remains of a relatively recent volcanic eruption that laid down a thin layer of material only about one foot thick.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location of today’s cool image, with the white rectangle in the inset indicating the approximate area covered by the picture itself. The yellow dot to the northwest marks the location of that other theorized recent volcanic event.
As you can see on the overview map, both of these events are only a few hundred miles from the largest quakes detected by the seismometer on the lander InSight. This is also what I label as volcano country on Mars, as nearly this entire landscape is formed from either lava floods (such as the indicated Athabasca flood event) or volcanic ash (as indicated by the area covered by the Medusae Fossae Formation).
Thus, it is not unreasonable to hypothesize that these dark patches were caused by the deposit of eruptive material flung from the two fissures.
At the same time, it is as important to remember that this hypothesize remains only an educated guess, and could easily be wrong. More data is required before this conclusion can be taken seriously, no less confirmed.
Readers!
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In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
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Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on December 16, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The science team labels the two darkened patches in the picture “plume-like features,” suggesting that the dark material was eruptive material thrown out from the depressions in a volcanic venting, that then settled on the nearby surrounding terrain.
Is that a correct interpretation? It is certainly strengthened by a different feature located about 550 miles to the northwest that looks almost the same. There, researchers theorize that the dark material surrounding a surface fissure was caused by a small volcanic event that occurred somewhere between 50,000 to 210,000 years ago. For that other location, scientists concluded as follows:
After careful comparison of this symmetrical dark feature with other dark wind-caused streaks in this region, the scientists concluded that it was not caused by wind, but is the remains of a relatively recent volcanic eruption that laid down a thin layer of material only about one foot thick.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location of today’s cool image, with the white rectangle in the inset indicating the approximate area covered by the picture itself. The yellow dot to the northwest marks the location of that other theorized recent volcanic event.
As you can see on the overview map, both of these events are only a few hundred miles from the largest quakes detected by the seismometer on the lander InSight. This is also what I label as volcano country on Mars, as nearly this entire landscape is formed from either lava floods (such as the indicated Athabasca flood event) or volcanic ash (as indicated by the area covered by the Medusae Fossae Formation).
Thus, it is not unreasonable to hypothesize that these dark patches were caused by the deposit of eruptive material flung from the two fissures.
At the same time, it is as important to remember that this hypothesize remains only an educated guess, and could easily be wrong. More data is required before this conclusion can be taken seriously, no less confirmed.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
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