Numerous layers in the interior slopes of Argyre Basin on Mars
Click for original image.
The cool image to the right, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on February 22, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It gives us another example the many-layered geological history of Mars, seen in numerous locations across the entire Martian surface.
This example shows many thin layers, going downhill about 450 feet from the mesa near the bottom of the picture to the low point near the picture’s top. At this resolution there appear to be roughly two dozen prominent layers in that descent, but a closer look suggests many more layers within those large layers. Like the terrain that Curiosity is traversing on Mount Sharp, the closer one gets the more layers one sees. And each layer signifies a different geological event, possibly even marking the annual seasons, each either adding or removing a layer of dust or ice, or placing down a new layer of lava.
The overview map to the right provides the larger context. These layers are on the southern interior slopes of Argyre Basin, as indicated by the white dot. The first inset on the left shows us that within these slopes is this very large gully that suggests something once leeched out of those slopes. To its west close-by is this 5-mile-wide unnamed crater, shown in better detail in the second inset on the right. The rectangle in that second inset shows the area covered by the picture above.
The orbital imagery suggests this crater is not from an impact, but is a sinkhole caused by some form of erosion. The crater has no upraised rim, as would be seen from an impact. It is also not round, but distorted in shape. Moreover, the gaps on the east and west rims suggest past drainage downhill to this crater from both directions, slowly wearing away the surface to expose those layers. The low point in the picture is actually the saddle of the western gap. The layers can be seen all along the entire interior rim, once again suggesting that the depression is a sinkhole, not an impact crater, since that interior rim appears to have formed slowly over time, not instantly by an impact.
As the latitude is about 54 degrees south, it is very likely there is a lot near surface ice. Since this is the north-facing slope of Argyre, it gets the most sunlight year round. That sunlight could be causing that near-surface ice to sublimate into gas, which then leaks out to form that large gully as well as this depression.
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:
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Click for original image.
The cool image to the right, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on February 22, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It gives us another example the many-layered geological history of Mars, seen in numerous locations across the entire Martian surface.
This example shows many thin layers, going downhill about 450 feet from the mesa near the bottom of the picture to the low point near the picture’s top. At this resolution there appear to be roughly two dozen prominent layers in that descent, but a closer look suggests many more layers within those large layers. Like the terrain that Curiosity is traversing on Mount Sharp, the closer one gets the more layers one sees. And each layer signifies a different geological event, possibly even marking the annual seasons, each either adding or removing a layer of dust or ice, or placing down a new layer of lava.
The overview map to the right provides the larger context. These layers are on the southern interior slopes of Argyre Basin, as indicated by the white dot. The first inset on the left shows us that within these slopes is this very large gully that suggests something once leeched out of those slopes. To its west close-by is this 5-mile-wide unnamed crater, shown in better detail in the second inset on the right. The rectangle in that second inset shows the area covered by the picture above.
The orbital imagery suggests this crater is not from an impact, but is a sinkhole caused by some form of erosion. The crater has no upraised rim, as would be seen from an impact. It is also not round, but distorted in shape. Moreover, the gaps on the east and west rims suggest past drainage downhill to this crater from both directions, slowly wearing away the surface to expose those layers. The low point in the picture is actually the saddle of the western gap. The layers can be seen all along the entire interior rim, once again suggesting that the depression is a sinkhole, not an impact crater, since that interior rim appears to have formed slowly over time, not instantly by an impact.
As the latitude is about 54 degrees south, it is very likely there is a lot near surface ice. Since this is the north-facing slope of Argyre, it gets the most sunlight year round. That sunlight could be causing that near-surface ice to sublimate into gas, which then leaks out to form that large gully as well as this depression.
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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