A somewhat typical but strange crater in Mars’ Death Valley
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on August 29, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The camera team labels the primary feature in this picture as “ridges,” but what I see is a strange crater that at first glance appears to be impact-caused, but at closer inspection might be something else entirely.
This unnamed crater is about one mile wide. It is only about fifty feet deep, but sits above the surround landscape by about 200 feet. That high position suggests strongly that this crater was not formed by an impact by is instead a caldera from some sort of volcanic activity, with the splash apron around it simply examples of past magma flows erupting from within.
The ridges inside the crater might be glacial debris, as this location is at 35 degrees south latitude, making near surface ice possible.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, within Hellas Basin at its lowest point and also at the edge of a region of taffy terrain, one of Mars’ many unique geological features that remains as yet unexplained. (For other examples of cool images of taffy terrain, go here, here, and here.) All scientists know at this point is that taffy terrain appears to have formed by the flow of some viscous material that appears to have settled into the lowest spots. Both ice and lava are considered components, either separately or in combination.
The arrows in the inset indicate the locations of all the other nearby craters, all of which exhibit similar features. They sit above the surrounding terrain and have splash aprons. Were these craters small volcanic eruptions relative to the formation of the taffy terrain? Maybe. It is also possible we are looking at impacts that hit that viscous material, producing the splash aprons and then remaining as the surrounding terrain eroded away because after impact the craters were more resistent to erosion.
The situation certainly bears investigation, as Sherlock Holmes might say.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
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, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on August 29, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The camera team labels the primary feature in this picture as “ridges,” but what I see is a strange crater that at first glance appears to be impact-caused, but at closer inspection might be something else entirely.
This unnamed crater is about one mile wide. It is only about fifty feet deep, but sits above the surround landscape by about 200 feet. That high position suggests strongly that this crater was not formed by an impact by is instead a caldera from some sort of volcanic activity, with the splash apron around it simply examples of past magma flows erupting from within.
The ridges inside the crater might be glacial debris, as this location is at 35 degrees south latitude, making near surface ice possible.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, within Hellas Basin at its lowest point and also at the edge of a region of taffy terrain, one of Mars’ many unique geological features that remains as yet unexplained. (For other examples of cool images of taffy terrain, go here, here, and here.) All scientists know at this point is that taffy terrain appears to have formed by the flow of some viscous material that appears to have settled into the lowest spots. Both ice and lava are considered components, either separately or in combination.
The arrows in the inset indicate the locations of all the other nearby craters, all of which exhibit similar features. They sit above the surrounding terrain and have splash aprons. Were these craters small volcanic eruptions relative to the formation of the taffy terrain? Maybe. It is also possible we are looking at impacts that hit that viscous material, producing the splash aprons and then remaining as the surrounding terrain eroded away because after impact the craters were more resistent to erosion.
The situation certainly bears investigation, as Sherlock Holmes might say.
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. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. 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
Mars Cycler
https://www.universetoday.com/169043/astronauts-could-take-an-asteroid-ferry-from-earth-to-mars/