A big crack on Mars
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on September 1, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label “a fracture with clays.”
This canyon is about a mile and a half wide, with the floor ranging from 800 to 1,100 feet to the rim. It was not formed initially by any ice or water flow, but by a spreading of the crust, forcing cracks to form that might have later been modified by wind, ice, or water. The presence of clays in this canyon strengthens that later ice/water modification, as clays require water to form.
The streaks on the northern wall are slope streaks, an unexplained phenomenon unique to Mars. While at first glance they look like avalanches, they have no debris piles at their base, and do nothing to change the topography. In fact, streaks can sometimes go uphill for short distances, following the surface. They happen randomly throughout the year, and fade with time.
It is believed their cause is related to dust avalanches, but this is only one of a number of theories that attempt to explain them. None is entirely satisfactory.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, on the northern edge of a network of canyons that feed south into Kasei Vallis, one of the longest and largest canyon systems on Mars. Scientists believe this the main canyon, 1,500 miles long and 300 miles wide in places, was formed by one or more catastrophic floods that poured out of the region where all Mars’ largest volcanos sit to drain into the northern lowland plains.
The original of the network of fractures where this canyon is located is not as clear. The canyons appear to follow fault lines, suggesting they formed when underground pressure pushed up and cracked the surface. Yet their pattern suggests they were widened by flows of ice or water south along those fault lines into Kasei. This suggestion is further reinforced by a cave opening, indicated by the green dot, that is found at the head of one canyon to the south. It is unlikely that small cave formed the entire downhill canyon, bu as I noted in my post first describing it,
The data illustrated by these images makes that tiny pit most enticing. It not only appears to be relatively easy to access its interior, there is visual evidence that suggests the presence of water.
If I was a future settler of Mars, I would give this pit a very high priority for exploration.
The canyon in the picture above is in many ways as enticing, as it is located at 31 degrees north latitude, which makes the existence of near-surface ice quite possible.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on September 1, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label “a fracture with clays.”
This canyon is about a mile and a half wide, with the floor ranging from 800 to 1,100 feet to the rim. It was not formed initially by any ice or water flow, but by a spreading of the crust, forcing cracks to form that might have later been modified by wind, ice, or water. The presence of clays in this canyon strengthens that later ice/water modification, as clays require water to form.
The streaks on the northern wall are slope streaks, an unexplained phenomenon unique to Mars. While at first glance they look like avalanches, they have no debris piles at their base, and do nothing to change the topography. In fact, streaks can sometimes go uphill for short distances, following the surface. They happen randomly throughout the year, and fade with time.
It is believed their cause is related to dust avalanches, but this is only one of a number of theories that attempt to explain them. None is entirely satisfactory.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, on the northern edge of a network of canyons that feed south into Kasei Vallis, one of the longest and largest canyon systems on Mars. Scientists believe this the main canyon, 1,500 miles long and 300 miles wide in places, was formed by one or more catastrophic floods that poured out of the region where all Mars’ largest volcanos sit to drain into the northern lowland plains.
The original of the network of fractures where this canyon is located is not as clear. The canyons appear to follow fault lines, suggesting they formed when underground pressure pushed up and cracked the surface. Yet their pattern suggests they were widened by flows of ice or water south along those fault lines into Kasei. This suggestion is further reinforced by a cave opening, indicated by the green dot, that is found at the head of one canyon to the south. It is unlikely that small cave formed the entire downhill canyon, bu as I noted in my post first describing it,
The data illustrated by these images makes that tiny pit most enticing. It not only appears to be relatively easy to access its interior, there is visual evidence that suggests the presence of water.
If I was a future settler of Mars, I would give this pit a very high priority for exploration.
The canyon in the picture above is in many ways as enticing, as it is located at 31 degrees north latitude, which makes the existence of near-surface ice quite possible.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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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