A recent volcanic eruption on Mars?
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on December 16, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The science team labels the two darkened patches in the picture “plume-like features,” suggesting that the dark material was eruptive material thrown out from the depressions in a volcanic venting, that then settled on the nearby surrounding terrain.
Is that a correct interpretation? It is certainly strengthened by a different feature located about 550 miles to the northwest that looks almost the same. There, researchers theorize that the dark material surrounding a surface fissure was caused by a small volcanic event that occurred somewhere between 50,000 to 210,000 years ago. For that other location, scientists concluded as follows:
After careful comparison of this symmetrical dark feature with other dark wind-caused streaks in this region, the scientists concluded that it was not caused by wind, but is the remains of a relatively recent volcanic eruption that laid down a thin layer of material only about one foot thick.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location of today’s cool image, with the white rectangle in the inset indicating the approximate area covered by the picture itself. The yellow dot to the northwest marks the location of that other theorized recent volcanic event.
As you can see on the overview map, both of these events are only a few hundred miles from the largest quakes detected by the seismometer on the lander InSight. This is also what I label as volcano country on Mars, as nearly this entire landscape is formed from either lava floods (such as the indicated Athabasca flood event) or volcanic ash (as indicated by the area covered by the Medusae Fossae Formation).
Thus, it is not unreasonable to hypothesize that these dark patches were caused by the deposit of eruptive material flung from the two fissures.
At the same time, it is as important to remember that this hypothesize remains only an educated guess, and could easily be wrong. More data is required before this conclusion can be taken seriously, no less confirmed.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on December 16, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The science team labels the two darkened patches in the picture “plume-like features,” suggesting that the dark material was eruptive material thrown out from the depressions in a volcanic venting, that then settled on the nearby surrounding terrain.
Is that a correct interpretation? It is certainly strengthened by a different feature located about 550 miles to the northwest that looks almost the same. There, researchers theorize that the dark material surrounding a surface fissure was caused by a small volcanic event that occurred somewhere between 50,000 to 210,000 years ago. For that other location, scientists concluded as follows:
After careful comparison of this symmetrical dark feature with other dark wind-caused streaks in this region, the scientists concluded that it was not caused by wind, but is the remains of a relatively recent volcanic eruption that laid down a thin layer of material only about one foot thick.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location of today’s cool image, with the white rectangle in the inset indicating the approximate area covered by the picture itself. The yellow dot to the northwest marks the location of that other theorized recent volcanic event.
As you can see on the overview map, both of these events are only a few hundred miles from the largest quakes detected by the seismometer on the lander InSight. This is also what I label as volcano country on Mars, as nearly this entire landscape is formed from either lava floods (such as the indicated Athabasca flood event) or volcanic ash (as indicated by the area covered by the Medusae Fossae Formation).
Thus, it is not unreasonable to hypothesize that these dark patches were caused by the deposit of eruptive material flung from the two fissures.
At the same time, it is as important to remember that this hypothesize remains only an educated guess, and could easily be wrong. More data is required before this conclusion can be taken seriously, no less confirmed.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News