Lava cones, fissures, and channels from Olympus Mons
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on June 29, 2020 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). In this one spot we see three obvious volcanic features, all however formed by different processes.
The location of this image is west of Olympus Mons. It sits on the vast lava plain that was laid down by that volcano, the largest in the solar system.
In order of likely occurrence, the cone probably came first. It likely indicates a past eruption coming up from below to create a small volcano.
The shallow meandering channel that sweeps around it to the north and east probably marks a later lava flow coming down from Olympus Mons.
The deeper straight fissure to the south probably came last. It is a graben, a crack caused by the uplift of the entire surface because of pressure from a magma chamber below, causing cracks to form as the surface is stretched.
Three different volcanic events, each probably taking thousands of years, with maybe thousands to millions of years between them. The context map below adds weight to the scale of time and size represented by this one Martian photo.
This image is sitting close to what scientists have defined as the “sea level” of Mars, or zero elevation. The caldera of Olympus Mons, sits at about 70,000 feet, or more than thirteen miles higher, and more than twice as high as Mount Everest. Moreover, that peak is about 200 to 250 miles away, with the volcano’s first foothills more than 100 miles to the west.
Yet, even at that distance and height, the volcanic eruptions of Olympus Mons and gigantic magma chamber below it helped shape this place, and it did it over a very long time span across a number of distinct volcanic events.
This is volcanism at a scale that is alien to anything so far studied on Earth. It will take a lot of in situ research to untangle it and gain even a superficial understanding of it. Right now we only know that it happened.
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 full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, was taken on June 29, 2020 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). In this one spot we see three obvious volcanic features, all however formed by different processes.
The location of this image is west of Olympus Mons. It sits on the vast lava plain that was laid down by that volcano, the largest in the solar system.
In order of likely occurrence, the cone probably came first. It likely indicates a past eruption coming up from below to create a small volcano.
The shallow meandering channel that sweeps around it to the north and east probably marks a later lava flow coming down from Olympus Mons.
The deeper straight fissure to the south probably came last. It is a graben, a crack caused by the uplift of the entire surface because of pressure from a magma chamber below, causing cracks to form as the surface is stretched.
Three different volcanic events, each probably taking thousands of years, with maybe thousands to millions of years between them. The context map below adds weight to the scale of time and size represented by this one Martian photo.
This image is sitting close to what scientists have defined as the “sea level” of Mars, or zero elevation. The caldera of Olympus Mons, sits at about 70,000 feet, or more than thirteen miles higher, and more than twice as high as Mount Everest. Moreover, that peak is about 200 to 250 miles away, with the volcano’s first foothills more than 100 miles to the west.
Yet, even at that distance and height, the volcanic eruptions of Olympus Mons and gigantic magma chamber below it helped shape this place, and it did it over a very long time span across a number of distinct volcanic events.
This is volcanism at a scale that is alien to anything so far studied on Earth. It will take a lot of in situ research to untangle it and gain even a superficial understanding of it. Right now we only know that it happened.
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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