A Martian crater with a wake of lava
Cool image time! Today’s cool image begins with the overview map to the right. The white dot marks its location, on the western edge of Amazonis Planitia and about 1,000 miles east of the giant shield volcano Elysium Mons.
This is a region of numerous flood lava events that appear to cover the knobby mountainous terrain that was once here. We know that past terrain was knobby because in the black outline just south of this picture the knobs are everywhere, short peaks sticking up from a very flat flood lava plain. The region is also on the northern edge of the dry equatorial regions of Mars, at 27 degrees north latitude. It is likely there is little near surface ice here.
These details will help explain the cool image itself.
Click for original image.
The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on April 22, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The camera team titles this picture “lines of cratered cones.” That description however doesn’t capture the wakelike shape of those lines, all to the northwest of that 3,300 foot wide crater, which itself appears almost entirely filled with lava.
How can we explain this pattern of cones? I will make a guess, but I guarantee I am almost certainly wrong, and even if I am right my theory will only provide a very partial explanation. Let’s say the flood lava was flowing from the southeast to the northwest. As it hit this crater, it was forced to flow around it, creating an eddy to the northwest of the crater so that less lava was available to cover the cones and knobs that were already there.
Sounds great, eh? It works to a degree, since the edges of this wake are slightly lower in elevation. However its central area is actually higher, which means the shape of the wake likely existed before the flood lava arrived. Moreover, all I am attempting to do is explain why these cones were not covered by lava. I have no idea what formed them, or why they are lined up in this manner.
It is also possible that some process involving underground ice is involved, since only a few hundred miles north of this location we begin to find a lot of glacial evidence. At some point in the past, when Mars’ rotational tilt was different, this spot might have harbored ice near the surface, which could have played a factor in shaping it.
Some volcanic/lava flow process was likely involved, with the possible interaction with ice, but I don’t know enough about those processes to even hazard a guess. I also suspect the planetary scientists who are studying this spot don’t know themselves with any clarity, which is why they are studying it.
One last guess that came to mind just before I posted. What if the crater is not from impact, but was a caldera vent, and the cones indicate the lava flow from that vent?
Isn’t speculation fun? I admire the scientists who dig into the facts to put aside such wild theories to find out what actually 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.
Cool image time! Today’s cool image begins with the overview map to the right. The white dot marks its location, on the western edge of Amazonis Planitia and about 1,000 miles east of the giant shield volcano Elysium Mons.
This is a region of numerous flood lava events that appear to cover the knobby mountainous terrain that was once here. We know that past terrain was knobby because in the black outline just south of this picture the knobs are everywhere, short peaks sticking up from a very flat flood lava plain. The region is also on the northern edge of the dry equatorial regions of Mars, at 27 degrees north latitude. It is likely there is little near surface ice here.
These details will help explain the cool image itself.
Click for original image.
The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on April 22, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The camera team titles this picture “lines of cratered cones.” That description however doesn’t capture the wakelike shape of those lines, all to the northwest of that 3,300 foot wide crater, which itself appears almost entirely filled with lava.
How can we explain this pattern of cones? I will make a guess, but I guarantee I am almost certainly wrong, and even if I am right my theory will only provide a very partial explanation. Let’s say the flood lava was flowing from the southeast to the northwest. As it hit this crater, it was forced to flow around it, creating an eddy to the northwest of the crater so that less lava was available to cover the cones and knobs that were already there.
Sounds great, eh? It works to a degree, since the edges of this wake are slightly lower in elevation. However its central area is actually higher, which means the shape of the wake likely existed before the flood lava arrived. Moreover, all I am attempting to do is explain why these cones were not covered by lava. I have no idea what formed them, or why they are lined up in this manner.
It is also possible that some process involving underground ice is involved, since only a few hundred miles north of this location we begin to find a lot of glacial evidence. At some point in the past, when Mars’ rotational tilt was different, this spot might have harbored ice near the surface, which could have played a factor in shaping it.
Some volcanic/lava flow process was likely involved, with the possible interaction with ice, but I don’t know enough about those processes to even hazard a guess. I also suspect the planetary scientists who are studying this spot don’t know themselves with any clarity, which is why they are studying it.
One last guess that came to mind just before I posted. What if the crater is not from impact, but was a caldera vent, and the cones indicate the lava flow from that vent?
Isn’t speculation fun? I admire the scientists who dig into the facts to put aside such wild theories to find out what actually 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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