A Martian volcanic ash field covering an ancient lava flow
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on April 16, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows in the center an ancient tongue of lava flow that is surrounded by thick dust fields on the north and the south.
The arrow indicates the downhill grade. It also shows the direction of the prevailing winds, downhill to sculpt the volcanic ash into long streamers of parallel grooves, with obvious eddies forming around bits of older lava that still stick up through the ash. On the lava flow can also be seen one small volcano cone, on the picture’s right edge, suggesting that either during this flow or after it hardened magma bubbled up from below.
The location is fascinating, and in fact puts this picture into its much more spectacular context.
Click for interactive mosaic.
The white cross on the overview map to the right, about 350 miles due north of the landing site of the rover Spirit, marks the location of the picture above, sitting on the edge of the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest volcanic ash deposit on Mars that is thought to be the source of most of the planet’s dust.
The tongue of lava is a flow that belched a long time ago from one of Mars’ less well-known smaller volcanoes, Apollinaris Mons. The bottom oblique image to the right is created from a global mosaic produced from all the pictures taken by MRO’s context camera, showing the volcano’s caldera at its peak, with the area of the cool picture above indicated by the small rectangle near the upper right.
This lava flow sits about 50 miles from that caldera, 6,500 feet lower down the mountain. Since Apollinaris is estimated to be about 16,000 feet high, this flow still sits on the volcano’s flanks, about two thirds up from its base. With a diameter of about 180 miles, Apollinaris Mons would be considered a major volcano on Earth. On Mars however it is hardly noticed, dwarfed by the giant shield volcanoes to the east and north, all of which are about three to four times higher and many times wider.
Since the volcano is thought to be between 3 to 3.5 billion years old, this lava flow likely happened first, with the Medusae Fossae ash deposits building up over time to either side. Its eroded surface also suggests that it could very easily be some of the source of material that forms those ash fields.
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.
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4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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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, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on April 16, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows in the center an ancient tongue of lava flow that is surrounded by thick dust fields on the north and the south.
The arrow indicates the downhill grade. It also shows the direction of the prevailing winds, downhill to sculpt the volcanic ash into long streamers of parallel grooves, with obvious eddies forming around bits of older lava that still stick up through the ash. On the lava flow can also be seen one small volcano cone, on the picture’s right edge, suggesting that either during this flow or after it hardened magma bubbled up from below.
The location is fascinating, and in fact puts this picture into its much more spectacular context.
Click for interactive mosaic.
The white cross on the overview map to the right, about 350 miles due north of the landing site of the rover Spirit, marks the location of the picture above, sitting on the edge of the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest volcanic ash deposit on Mars that is thought to be the source of most of the planet’s dust.
The tongue of lava is a flow that belched a long time ago from one of Mars’ less well-known smaller volcanoes, Apollinaris Mons. The bottom oblique image to the right is created from a global mosaic produced from all the pictures taken by MRO’s context camera, showing the volcano’s caldera at its peak, with the area of the cool picture above indicated by the small rectangle near the upper right.
This lava flow sits about 50 miles from that caldera, 6,500 feet lower down the mountain. Since Apollinaris is estimated to be about 16,000 feet high, this flow still sits on the volcano’s flanks, about two thirds up from its base. With a diameter of about 180 miles, Apollinaris Mons would be considered a major volcano on Earth. On Mars however it is hardly noticed, dwarfed by the giant shield volcanoes to the east and north, all of which are about three to four times higher and many times wider.
Since the volcano is thought to be between 3 to 3.5 billion years old, this lava flow likely happened first, with the Medusae Fossae ash deposits building up over time to either side. Its eroded surface also suggests that it could very easily be some of the source of material that forms those ash fields.
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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