Are these Martian terraced mesas or pits?
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on July 2, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). I have purposely enhanced the contrast to bring out the strangely shaped and terraced features.
What I cannot figure out from any data available to me is whether these terraced features are mesas rising up, or pits descending down. The resolution in the global mosiac of Mars created both from MRO’s context camera and its elevation data is simply not good enough. It suggests these are pits, but the sunlight is coming from the west, which based on the shadows suggest these could be pits or mesas.
In fact, the dark lines that appear to distinguish the terraces might not be shadows at all, but simply darker material that contrasts with the lighter material on each side.
On the overview map to the right, the black dot inside 71-mile-wide Crommelin Crater marks the location. Previous research has suggested these terraced-appearing features, found in several nearby craters, might be springs where water was released from underground aquifer sometime in the past. That this crater is in the middle of the dry tropics of Mars, the past presence of springs is further evidence that Mars has undergone significant climate and geological changes over time.
As for whether these are pits or mesas, there is this from the abstract of this paper:
Elongated structures (furrows) and concentric strata pattern that we refer to as ridge-and-trough, were described inside to Crommelin crater. [MRO elevation data] revealed that these morphologies developed within a flat topography and are inconsistent with gravitative processes.
In other words, the scientists themselves are unsure whether they are mesas or pits, and in fact may be neither, the visual data having nothing to do with the topography. If you look close at the picture, the ripple dunes suggest this, as the dunes are found both at the center and edges of these features. Normally such dunes are found in the low spots, where the sand gets trapped. That these dunes are found almost randomly suggests the alternating bright and dark bands are intrinsic to the ground, and have nothing to do with any elevation changes at all.
That earlier research suggested the dark bands were basalt, laid down during periodic volcanic lava events.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on July 2, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). I have purposely enhanced the contrast to bring out the strangely shaped and terraced features.
What I cannot figure out from any data available to me is whether these terraced features are mesas rising up, or pits descending down. The resolution in the global mosiac of Mars created both from MRO’s context camera and its elevation data is simply not good enough. It suggests these are pits, but the sunlight is coming from the west, which based on the shadows suggest these could be pits or mesas.
In fact, the dark lines that appear to distinguish the terraces might not be shadows at all, but simply darker material that contrasts with the lighter material on each side.
On the overview map to the right, the black dot inside 71-mile-wide Crommelin Crater marks the location. Previous research has suggested these terraced-appearing features, found in several nearby craters, might be springs where water was released from underground aquifer sometime in the past. That this crater is in the middle of the dry tropics of Mars, the past presence of springs is further evidence that Mars has undergone significant climate and geological changes over time.
As for whether these are pits or mesas, there is this from the abstract of this paper:
Elongated structures (furrows) and concentric strata pattern that we refer to as ridge-and-trough, were described inside to Crommelin crater. [MRO elevation data] revealed that these morphologies developed within a flat topography and are inconsistent with gravitative processes.
In other words, the scientists themselves are unsure whether they are mesas or pits, and in fact may be neither, the visual data having nothing to do with the topography. If you look close at the picture, the ripple dunes suggest this, as the dunes are found both at the center and edges of these features. Normally such dunes are found in the low spots, where the sand gets trapped. That these dunes are found almost randomly suggests the alternating bright and dark bands are intrinsic to the ground, and have nothing to do with any elevation changes at all.
That earlier research suggested the dark bands were basalt, laid down during periodic volcanic lava events.
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
To my old worn out eyes they look like very low flat mesas. Another one of those spots that are waiting for “boots on the ground” confirmation. One of the coolest Cool Images in a while. Thanks.
Mars is weird!
Presumably, when they say “ridge-and-through” they mean “ridge-and-trough.”
Michael McNeil: I had intended on fixing their typo and forgot. Now corrected.