More thumbprints on Mars!
Cool image time! Among the many strange and unexplained geological features that scientists have identified on Mars, the thumbprint feature is one of the most intriguing. The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, is a fine example, and was taken on September 10, 2021 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The thumbprints are the lighter splotches, and are generally found near curved ridges located mostly in Martian lowlands. All appear to have crater-like features in them, though these craters are not impact craters, but likely (though not confirmed) caused by some form of underground eruption, be it mud, ice, lava or something else. Though scientists do not yet really understand the process that formed the thumbprints, the data strongly suggests that they formed in connection with glacial events. From this 2003 paper [pdf]:
TT [thumbprint terrain] as well as the associated trough systems were formed by a glacial mechanism. [Elevation] data show that the trough systems consistently lie topographically above the TT; this implies that if they were they formed by the same glacier, the troughs must have formed before the glacier retreated and formed the TT.
The splash apron around the crater near the bottom of the photo supports the glacial theory, implying the presence here of underground ice.
Scientists have also theorized wind processes and cinder cones as explanations for these features.
These particular thumbprints are located, as shown in the overview map below, in the same general area as a previous cool image of thumbprints, from April 2019.
The white cross marks the location of today’s cool image, while the white dot marks the location of the April 2019 cool image. The black dot indicates the location of the mesa I dub the “non-face on Mars.”
Essentially, the data suggests that the thumbprints lie at the edge of what were once vast ice sheets. The curved ridges (called “troughs” for some reason by the scientists) might mark moraines, with the thumbprints lying under the glacier foot.
None of this is confirmed. Moreover, these hypothesises are based on comparing these features with similar Earth features, a useful but very dangerous method for explaining what we see on Mars. Mars is not Earth, and though the geology can have similarities, in the end it will form by its own very unique circumstances.
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.
Cool image time! Among the many strange and unexplained geological features that scientists have identified on Mars, the thumbprint feature is one of the most intriguing. The photo to the right, cropped and reduced to post here, is a fine example, and was taken on September 10, 2021 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The thumbprints are the lighter splotches, and are generally found near curved ridges located mostly in Martian lowlands. All appear to have crater-like features in them, though these craters are not impact craters, but likely (though not confirmed) caused by some form of underground eruption, be it mud, ice, lava or something else. Though scientists do not yet really understand the process that formed the thumbprints, the data strongly suggests that they formed in connection with glacial events. From this 2003 paper [pdf]:
TT [thumbprint terrain] as well as the associated trough systems were formed by a glacial mechanism. [Elevation] data show that the trough systems consistently lie topographically above the TT; this implies that if they were they formed by the same glacier, the troughs must have formed before the glacier retreated and formed the TT.
The splash apron around the crater near the bottom of the photo supports the glacial theory, implying the presence here of underground ice.
Scientists have also theorized wind processes and cinder cones as explanations for these features.
These particular thumbprints are located, as shown in the overview map below, in the same general area as a previous cool image of thumbprints, from April 2019.
The white cross marks the location of today’s cool image, while the white dot marks the location of the April 2019 cool image. The black dot indicates the location of the mesa I dub the “non-face on Mars.”
Essentially, the data suggests that the thumbprints lie at the edge of what were once vast ice sheets. The curved ridges (called “troughs” for some reason by the scientists) might mark moraines, with the thumbprints lying under the glacier foot.
None of this is confirmed. Moreover, these hypothesises are based on comparing these features with similar Earth features, a useful but very dangerous method for explaining what we see on Mars. Mars is not Earth, and though the geology can have similarities, in the end it will form by its own very unique circumstances.
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.
When you blow this up, the area between the thumbprints is full of tiny holes all about the same size and spacing. Reminds me of a certain type of coral head skeleton. Mars is weird. I hope someday humans get to figure it all out.