Baby Martian volcanoes
Click for full image.
Cool image time! I came across this strange feature shown on the right in my normal rummaging through the archive of the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The photo, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, focuses on what they label a “cratered cone.”
The immediate thought is that this is a volcano cone, and the craters at its peak are not impact craters but calderas. In science however such a knee-jerk conclusion is always dangerous. For example, this might instead be a pedestal crater, where the surrounding terrain was worn away over eons, leaving the crater sitting high and dry.
It is therefore important to look deeper to determine what origin of this feature might be.
First, its location, as shown in the overview map below, provides us our first clue.
This pimple on Mars, as indicated by the blue rectangle, is located on the very edge of the heavily fissured region called Noctis Fossae, just west of Valles Marineris and immediately north of the vast chaos region dubbed Noctis Labyrinthus.
Noctis Fossae is really an extension of Noctis Labyrinthus, but instead of canyons and fissures going in all directions, its fissures are all parallel in a north-south direction. This suggests they are volcanic cracks created when the underlying magma pushed the surface upward. As Noctis Fossae is part of the volcanic Tharsis Bulge region, with the string of three giant volcanoes just to the west, it is thus not surprising to find evidence of underlying volcanic pressure.
What other data do we have? Take another look at the overview map, obtained from the MRO high-res camera archive. The red rectangles scattered about are the locations of all the high resolution photos that MRO has so far taken in this area. Note how few there are. Surrounding this cone MRO has literally taken no other high resolution images, for many miles. This lack suggests that MRO’s context camera, designed to take lower resolution wide images, has not spotted any interesting features worth inspecting with high resolution follow-ups.
Click for full image of second cone.
However, when I took a close look at this particular spot, I discovered that one other picture had been taken in this region, and it happened to be located just to the northwest of this cratered cone, with an overlap. The mosaic to the right combines the above photo with that second image, showing that this cratered cone is also aligned with another cratered cone to northwest.
Their similarity and alignment argues against them being pedestal craters. Instead, it suggests an underground fault has provided a pathway for magma to push upward at both places, creating these small volcanoes. Furthermore, the second image had been given the title “Mound Surrounded by Lava Close to Noctis Fossae,” telling us that the MRO science team thought the surface here was volcanic in nature.
So, is it certain that these are volcano cones? Well, maybe. Though the data available suggests this conclusion, you must never forget the uncertainty of science. There is still the possibility that we are not seeing cones created by molten magma, but by underground water ice pushing mud upward, much as magma does. Such things have been found in the Martian northern lowlands (see here and here).
The universe is an amazing puzzle. Explaining it takes hard work, and a willingness to keep an open mind, at all times.
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.
Click for full image.
Cool image time! I came across this strange feature shown on the right in my normal rummaging through the archive of the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The photo, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, focuses on what they label a “cratered cone.”
The immediate thought is that this is a volcano cone, and the craters at its peak are not impact craters but calderas. In science however such a knee-jerk conclusion is always dangerous. For example, this might instead be a pedestal crater, where the surrounding terrain was worn away over eons, leaving the crater sitting high and dry.
It is therefore important to look deeper to determine what origin of this feature might be.
First, its location, as shown in the overview map below, provides us our first clue.
This pimple on Mars, as indicated by the blue rectangle, is located on the very edge of the heavily fissured region called Noctis Fossae, just west of Valles Marineris and immediately north of the vast chaos region dubbed Noctis Labyrinthus.
Noctis Fossae is really an extension of Noctis Labyrinthus, but instead of canyons and fissures going in all directions, its fissures are all parallel in a north-south direction. This suggests they are volcanic cracks created when the underlying magma pushed the surface upward. As Noctis Fossae is part of the volcanic Tharsis Bulge region, with the string of three giant volcanoes just to the west, it is thus not surprising to find evidence of underlying volcanic pressure.
What other data do we have? Take another look at the overview map, obtained from the MRO high-res camera archive. The red rectangles scattered about are the locations of all the high resolution photos that MRO has so far taken in this area. Note how few there are. Surrounding this cone MRO has literally taken no other high resolution images, for many miles. This lack suggests that MRO’s context camera, designed to take lower resolution wide images, has not spotted any interesting features worth inspecting with high resolution follow-ups.
Click for full image of second cone.
However, when I took a close look at this particular spot, I discovered that one other picture had been taken in this region, and it happened to be located just to the northwest of this cratered cone, with an overlap. The mosaic to the right combines the above photo with that second image, showing that this cratered cone is also aligned with another cratered cone to northwest.
Their similarity and alignment argues against them being pedestal craters. Instead, it suggests an underground fault has provided a pathway for magma to push upward at both places, creating these small volcanoes. Furthermore, the second image had been given the title “Mound Surrounded by Lava Close to Noctis Fossae,” telling us that the MRO science team thought the surface here was volcanic in nature.
So, is it certain that these are volcano cones? Well, maybe. Though the data available suggests this conclusion, you must never forget the uncertainty of science. There is still the possibility that we are not seeing cones created by molten magma, but by underground water ice pushing mud upward, much as magma does. Such things have been found in the Martian northern lowlands (see here and here).
The universe is an amazing puzzle. Explaining it takes hard work, and a willingness to keep an open mind, at all times.
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.
Ahh little teenie weenie Volcanos on Mrs is that how Marvin and K-9 stay warm?