A Martian “glacier” made of volcanic ash
Click for full image.
Of the numerous cool images I’ve posted on Mars, many have documented the growing evidence that in the mid-latitudes of the Red Planet are many buried glaciers of ice.
Today’s cool image to the right, rotated, cropped and reduced to post here, shows something that at first might resemble the features one would expect from an ice glacier, but in reality is actually a flow of volcanic ash being blown almost like a river, with the prevailing winds blowing from the south to the north.
The photo was taken by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on November 1, 2020. The location, very close to the equator and in the transition zone dubbed the Cerberus Plains, is also smack dab between Mars’s biggest volcanoes, a region I like to dub Mars’s volcano country. The overview map below gives the context.
The white cross indicates the photo’s location, right in the midst of the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest volcanic ash deposit on Mars. This particular section of the Medusae ash deposit is located on a large uplifted region called Lucas Planum, a huge mound about 540 miles across and encompasses the eastern outlined section of the Medusae Fossae Formation where the white cross is placed.
I’ve posted a number of similar images showing the wind-blown erosion of the Medusae Fossae Formation (see for example here and here). The features all have a similar appearance, reminiscent of the carved mesas of the American southwest, but much softer and more sculpted. It is my impression that this is a region of softly piled sand and dust, easily dug but difficult to build on because the ground is weakly structured and so easily eroded. Imagine the difficulties of building a home on a beach.
Scientists today believe that much of the dust we find on Mars comes from the Medusae. What they don’t yet know is when it was created, from what volcano or volcanoes, and in how many different eruptions. To answer those questions will require in situ observations, including a gathering of many samples that all can be dated.
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.
Click for full image.
Of the numerous cool images I’ve posted on Mars, many have documented the growing evidence that in the mid-latitudes of the Red Planet are many buried glaciers of ice.
Today’s cool image to the right, rotated, cropped and reduced to post here, shows something that at first might resemble the features one would expect from an ice glacier, but in reality is actually a flow of volcanic ash being blown almost like a river, with the prevailing winds blowing from the south to the north.
The photo was taken by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on November 1, 2020. The location, very close to the equator and in the transition zone dubbed the Cerberus Plains, is also smack dab between Mars’s biggest volcanoes, a region I like to dub Mars’s volcano country. The overview map below gives the context.
The white cross indicates the photo’s location, right in the midst of the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest volcanic ash deposit on Mars. This particular section of the Medusae ash deposit is located on a large uplifted region called Lucas Planum, a huge mound about 540 miles across and encompasses the eastern outlined section of the Medusae Fossae Formation where the white cross is placed.
I’ve posted a number of similar images showing the wind-blown erosion of the Medusae Fossae Formation (see for example here and here). The features all have a similar appearance, reminiscent of the carved mesas of the American southwest, but much softer and more sculpted. It is my impression that this is a region of softly piled sand and dust, easily dug but difficult to build on because the ground is weakly structured and so easily eroded. Imagine the difficulties of building a home on a beach.
Scientists today believe that much of the dust we find on Mars comes from the Medusae. What they don’t yet know is when it was created, from what volcano or volcanoes, and in how many different eruptions. To answer those questions will require in situ observations, including a gathering of many samples that all can be dated.
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.
A geologist spending spending an afternoon on Mars could do the job of 1000+ rovers.