Martian channels formed by water? by ice? by lava?
Click for full image.
Many of the pictures from Mars show meandering channels, all of which suggest an erosion process related to some form of flow. For most of the last half century, since the first images of these channels were beamed back by Mariner 9 in 1972, scientists had believed that liquid water must have caused them. The accumulating recent photos from Mars now tentatively suggest that these channels might have instead been caused by glacial processes, creeping frozen water instead of liquid.
The image to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on July 17, 2020 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The channels suggest some form of flow going downhill to the northwest, but was it caused by water or ice? There is no obvious visual evidence of glaciers in this image, nor is there any such evidence that I can spot in any of the nearby high resolution images of this same region, despite the fact that at 35 degrees north latitude it is in the mid-latitude band where scientists have identified many glacial features.
The region itself is called Mareotis Fossae, an area of southwest-to-northeast trending parallel fissures and ridges, as shown in the two overview maps below.
The white box in the top map indicates the area covered by the zoomed in bottom map. The cross in both maps indicates the location of today’s image.
Located about 800-1,000 miles east of the giant shield volcano Alba Mons and about 1,200 miles northeast of the Tharsis Bulge that contains Mars four largest volcanoes, there is ample evidence [pdf] that some sort of volcanic geologic process formed this terrain.
Yet the meandering channels in today’s image, coming down off of the north slope of one of this region’s many parallel ridges, do not appear volcanic in nature.
Water? Ice? Lava? Your guess is as good as mine.
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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 full image.
Many of the pictures from Mars show meandering channels, all of which suggest an erosion process related to some form of flow. For most of the last half century, since the first images of these channels were beamed back by Mariner 9 in 1972, scientists had believed that liquid water must have caused them. The accumulating recent photos from Mars now tentatively suggest that these channels might have instead been caused by glacial processes, creeping frozen water instead of liquid.
The image to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on July 17, 2020 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The channels suggest some form of flow going downhill to the northwest, but was it caused by water or ice? There is no obvious visual evidence of glaciers in this image, nor is there any such evidence that I can spot in any of the nearby high resolution images of this same region, despite the fact that at 35 degrees north latitude it is in the mid-latitude band where scientists have identified many glacial features.
The region itself is called Mareotis Fossae, an area of southwest-to-northeast trending parallel fissures and ridges, as shown in the two overview maps below.
The white box in the top map indicates the area covered by the zoomed in bottom map. The cross in both maps indicates the location of today’s image.
Located about 800-1,000 miles east of the giant shield volcano Alba Mons and about 1,200 miles northeast of the Tharsis Bulge that contains Mars four largest volcanoes, there is ample evidence [pdf] that some sort of volcanic geologic process formed this terrain.
Yet the meandering channels in today’s image, coming down off of the north slope of one of this region’s many parallel ridges, do not appear volcanic in nature.
Water? Ice? Lava? Your guess is as good as mine.
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.
Perhaps less evidence of flowing water near these volcanoes, where lava probably dug out the features, as a contrast to regions without evidence of volcanoes where there are also river-like features, would indicate flowing water at the latter? Heck, there must be ways to, even from orbit, differ between lava channels and water channels!?
Fossie means “ditch”. And the name of the road where I live is Fossie. So that doesn’t sound so nice today: “ditch road”. But the main road that the Romans built in England was called the Fossie road. They built roads wherever they were, but in England they had to also dig ditches beside them. Because of the constant rain. So it was an especially big investment for them. Thus it has been an honorable name of roads everywhere since. (They did it for the gin!)
Talking about Mars, this income tax thing with Mr. Trump that obviously is planted as an issue for Tuesday’s debate:
– How much corporate tax has Trump paid?
– How much income has Trump gotten from the governments?
– And versus Joe Biden for both above!
Bringing up taxes, among the mess of everything else, seems like a big win for the Republicans. Debate watchers should think about where the taxes come from and where they go. I wonder whether the teleprompter AI figures out any winning lines at all for Yoyo Biden. I’m not a racist, but I don’t think that the Chinese are that smart yet.