Almost all of Mars’ geological mysteries in one spot
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on June 30, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The scientists label it “Mesas in shallow trough,” but that is only describes a small part of what can be seen here, as I interpret it.
The picture itself shows a small portion of the floor of an unnamed 32-mile-wide crater, with the crater’s southeast interior rim beginning its rise in the lower right. First, note the meandering hollow in the upper left, suggesting some past flow. Second, note the pattern of small ridges on the flat crater floor, suggesting some past drying process that left cracks that later filled with material that formed the ridges at a later time. Third, the mesas themselves suggest chaos terrain, often formed on Mars in connection with glacial flows. Fourth, note that the trough which holds the mesas is on the edge of the crater floor, suggesting the trough and mesas mark the erosion that once occurred at the edge of some material, possibly ice, that once filled that floor.
The trough and small meander also signify something far larger that can only be seen when we zoom out.
The black dot on the overview map to the right marks this location, in the southwest of the lava plain dubbed Daedalia Planum and right on the 3,500-mile-long fault line that runs through three of Mars’ biggest volcanoes and expresses itself to the northeast and southwest as one crack or many parallel cracks.
Both that meander and trough align with this faultline, which also cuts through the crater’s rims, telling us whatever event caused the fault occurred after the impact that formed the crater. The floor of the crater is also very smooth and flat, which suggests it was later flooded by the lava that covered the entire Tharsis Bulge of volcanoes. That flooding in turn tells us that the pattern of small ridges were likely formed when the surface of that lava solidified. In doing so it cracked, allowing still molten lava underground to push up through the cracks to form those ridges.
Though this crater is in the dry equatorial regions where so far orbital data has as yet found no evidence of near surface ice, the mesas suggest that glacial ice once existed here, which in turn suggests the affect of Mars’ many climate cycles.
Thus, this small spot on Mars provides evidence some of the red planet’s most dramatic geological history, beginning with the early heavy bombardment of asteroids in the very early solar system four billion years ago that formed the planets while leaving innumerable craters behind. Next came the event (possibly a giant impact on the opposite side of Mars) that cracked the planet and formed those southwest-to-northeast fault lines, which in turn allowed for the long release of magma that formed the giant volcanoes and flooded this region with lava.
Finally, the endless Martian climate cycles caused by the large changes in the planet’s rotatational tilt, from 11 to 60 degrees, helped bring and take ice to this location time after time, each cycle eroding the material in the trough to form the mesas.
That’s the rough story, based on the sparse and coarse orbital data presently available. Until we can get to Mars and study its entire surface in detail, this hypothesized geological history is only a rough guess, and should be taken with a great deal of skepticism.
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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.
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Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on June 30, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The scientists label it “Mesas in shallow trough,” but that is only describes a small part of what can be seen here, as I interpret it.
The picture itself shows a small portion of the floor of an unnamed 32-mile-wide crater, with the crater’s southeast interior rim beginning its rise in the lower right. First, note the meandering hollow in the upper left, suggesting some past flow. Second, note the pattern of small ridges on the flat crater floor, suggesting some past drying process that left cracks that later filled with material that formed the ridges at a later time. Third, the mesas themselves suggest chaos terrain, often formed on Mars in connection with glacial flows. Fourth, note that the trough which holds the mesas is on the edge of the crater floor, suggesting the trough and mesas mark the erosion that once occurred at the edge of some material, possibly ice, that once filled that floor.
The trough and small meander also signify something far larger that can only be seen when we zoom out.
The black dot on the overview map to the right marks this location, in the southwest of the lava plain dubbed Daedalia Planum and right on the 3,500-mile-long fault line that runs through three of Mars’ biggest volcanoes and expresses itself to the northeast and southwest as one crack or many parallel cracks.
Both that meander and trough align with this faultline, which also cuts through the crater’s rims, telling us whatever event caused the fault occurred after the impact that formed the crater. The floor of the crater is also very smooth and flat, which suggests it was later flooded by the lava that covered the entire Tharsis Bulge of volcanoes. That flooding in turn tells us that the pattern of small ridges were likely formed when the surface of that lava solidified. In doing so it cracked, allowing still molten lava underground to push up through the cracks to form those ridges.
Though this crater is in the dry equatorial regions where so far orbital data has as yet found no evidence of near surface ice, the mesas suggest that glacial ice once existed here, which in turn suggests the affect of Mars’ many climate cycles.
Thus, this small spot on Mars provides evidence some of the red planet’s most dramatic geological history, beginning with the early heavy bombardment of asteroids in the very early solar system four billion years ago that formed the planets while leaving innumerable craters behind. Next came the event (possibly a giant impact on the opposite side of Mars) that cracked the planet and formed those southwest-to-northeast fault lines, which in turn allowed for the long release of magma that formed the giant volcanoes and flooded this region with lava.
Finally, the endless Martian climate cycles caused by the large changes in the planet’s rotatational tilt, from 11 to 60 degrees, helped bring and take ice to this location time after time, each cycle eroding the material in the trough to form the mesas.
That’s the rough story, based on the sparse and coarse orbital data presently available. Until we can get to Mars and study its entire surface in detail, this hypothesized geological history is only a rough guess, and should be taken with a great deal of skepticism.
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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