Bursting lava bubbles on Mars
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on September 4, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
I really have no idea what caused these distorted cones. My intuition (a dangerous thing to rely on when it comes to science) suggests these are volcanic in nature. Imagine hot lava with gas bubbling up from below. Periodically a gas bubble will burst on the surface releasing the gas. Depending on temperature, that bursting bubble could harden in place.
The overview map below provides some support for my intuition, but it also suggests this first hypothesis could be completely wrong, something that does not surprise me in the least.
The white dot to the east of 185-mile-wide Newton Crater marks the location of these distorted cones. They are located on the southwest edge of the Tharsis Bulge, the high elevation plateau where most of the red planet’s largest volcanoes sit. Thus, this region has likely seen volcanic activity.
The location however is also at 42 degrees south latitude in the southern cratered highlands, inside the Martian mid-latitude bands where evidence of many glaciers and near surface ice is found. In fact, I have posted three different cool images (here, here, and here) of glacial features inside Newton Crater.
The light blue color inside some of the cones in the color strip also suggests the presence of ice. In addition, the cracks and eroded surface in the flats suggests sublimation and the drying out of ice.
Thus, these cones might not have formed from lava at all, and instead could be some form of water/ice volcano. The ice below ground sublimates to gas, and that gas bursts upward like the bubbles in simmering tomato sauce, bursting on the surface to form the cones.
Or not. Maybe we are looking at a geological process totally unique to Mars, involving a mix of lava, water, ice, and even dry ice.
Ain’t solving geological mysteries fun, especially when you are a hundred million miles away from the rocks?
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. 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.
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Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on September 4, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
I really have no idea what caused these distorted cones. My intuition (a dangerous thing to rely on when it comes to science) suggests these are volcanic in nature. Imagine hot lava with gas bubbling up from below. Periodically a gas bubble will burst on the surface releasing the gas. Depending on temperature, that bursting bubble could harden in place.
The overview map below provides some support for my intuition, but it also suggests this first hypothesis could be completely wrong, something that does not surprise me in the least.
The white dot to the east of 185-mile-wide Newton Crater marks the location of these distorted cones. They are located on the southwest edge of the Tharsis Bulge, the high elevation plateau where most of the red planet’s largest volcanoes sit. Thus, this region has likely seen volcanic activity.
The location however is also at 42 degrees south latitude in the southern cratered highlands, inside the Martian mid-latitude bands where evidence of many glaciers and near surface ice is found. In fact, I have posted three different cool images (here, here, and here) of glacial features inside Newton Crater.
The light blue color inside some of the cones in the color strip also suggests the presence of ice. In addition, the cracks and eroded surface in the flats suggests sublimation and the drying out of ice.
Thus, these cones might not have formed from lava at all, and instead could be some form of water/ice volcano. The ice below ground sublimates to gas, and that gas bursts upward like the bubbles in simmering tomato sauce, bursting on the surface to form the cones.
Or not. Maybe we are looking at a geological process totally unique to Mars, involving a mix of lava, water, ice, and even dry ice.
Ain’t solving geological mysteries fun, especially when you are a hundred million miles away from the rocks?
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. 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.
You note the cracks (desiccation cracks? expansion cracks?) which may be a clue. Note also the apparent collapse features (appear to be subdued craters, but maybe not?) nearby. All likely relating to the same set of causes or conditions. Hoping for stereo imagery in the near future, giving us a 3D perspective.
My intuition says giant sand worms.
Perfect for inflates-the rim keeps it seated.
Hypothesis: The cones were caused by bubbling magma, as Robert surmised, while the cracks are subsidence cracks formed as the surface material slumped into the space below. The terrain in the area is pockmarked, but the immediate area around the cones is relatively clear. Perhaps ejecta falling to the ground, but thrown up with enough force to fall a little distance away.