Ancient volcano vent in the Martian southern cratered highlands?
Click for original image.
The nature of today’s cool image suggests both ancient and more recent geological activity, each coming from entirely different sources but both helping to shape the alien Martian surface.
The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 13, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the science team has labeled an “elongated depression,” sitting in the middle of a relatively flat but very rough stippled circular plain about 60 miles in diameter. An MRO context camera picture, taken on February 19, 2012, covered the central strip of this plain, and shows that its surface is equally rough and stippled everywhere, with only a few craters and one or two slight changes in elevation.
So, how does this feature tell us both about the ancient and recent geological history of this spot on Mars?
The black dot in the center of the inset on the overview map to the right shows us the depression’s location in the southern cratered highlands of Mars. As cratered as the highlands are, however, this flat plain is mostly devoid of craters, suggesting it might be an ancient flood lava plain. This depression appears to have been the main outlet vent for that lava, as the highest thin lava layers appear centered on it.
Because this particular location is so smooth, it suggests the lava event likely occurred after the heavy bombardment period in the early solar system several billion years ago that created most of the craters on Mars, the Moon, and Mercury, so that those craters were covered and filled.
That lava event however was still likely more than a billion years ago, and since then a lot of atmospheric erosion has taken place to roughen the lava’s surface. You can even see what appear to be a handful of pedestal craters along the north edge of the depression, craters that had been filled with lava and hidden, but are now revealed by subsequent erosion.
This is one theory. The location is also located at 34 degrees south latitude, in the mid latitude bands where orbital images find much evidence of near surface ice. It is also possible the rough surface is the result of ice sublimation processes. The ice might be sitting on ancient lava, but the surface is being shaped by the ice, not the lava.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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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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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Click for original image.
The nature of today’s cool image suggests both ancient and more recent geological activity, each coming from entirely different sources but both helping to shape the alien Martian surface.
The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 13, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the science team has labeled an “elongated depression,” sitting in the middle of a relatively flat but very rough stippled circular plain about 60 miles in diameter. An MRO context camera picture, taken on February 19, 2012, covered the central strip of this plain, and shows that its surface is equally rough and stippled everywhere, with only a few craters and one or two slight changes in elevation.
So, how does this feature tell us both about the ancient and recent geological history of this spot on Mars?
The black dot in the center of the inset on the overview map to the right shows us the depression’s location in the southern cratered highlands of Mars. As cratered as the highlands are, however, this flat plain is mostly devoid of craters, suggesting it might be an ancient flood lava plain. This depression appears to have been the main outlet vent for that lava, as the highest thin lava layers appear centered on it.
Because this particular location is so smooth, it suggests the lava event likely occurred after the heavy bombardment period in the early solar system several billion years ago that created most of the craters on Mars, the Moon, and Mercury, so that those craters were covered and filled.
That lava event however was still likely more than a billion years ago, and since then a lot of atmospheric erosion has taken place to roughen the lava’s surface. You can even see what appear to be a handful of pedestal craters along the north edge of the depression, craters that had been filled with lava and hidden, but are now revealed by subsequent erosion.
This is one theory. The location is also located at 34 degrees south latitude, in the mid latitude bands where orbital images find much evidence of near surface ice. It is also possible the rough surface is the result of ice sublimation processes. The ice might be sitting on ancient lava, but the surface is being shaped by the ice, not the lava.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Ancient volcano vent in the Martian southern cratered highlands or a paramecium – you decide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramecium#/media/File:Paramecium.jpg