Enigmatic channel on Mars
Click for full image.
Cool image time. The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on October 26, 2020 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and labeled by the science team as simply an “Enigmatic Channel in Syrtis Major.”
It shows a channel going downhill to the northeast east in a series of steps, separated cliffs that in the southwest hikers call pour-offs, with the channel becoming initially deeper and then slowly becoming more shallow, until the next pour-off. On Earth the pour-offs would be waterfalls, with a deep pond at the base. On Mars?
Without doubt this channel poses mysteries, but maybe with a little research we can make it less enigmatic. Asl always, the overview map below gives context, and helps give a possible explanation for what created this channel.
The red box marks the channel’s location, on the edge of the giant lava field formed by the shield volcano Syrtis Major Planum, one of Mars least dramatic looking shield volcanoes which ironically was the first documented surface feature identified on another planet, discovered by Christiaan Huygens during his observations of Mars in 1659.
This shield volcano is thought to have been active about 3 billion years ago, give or take a half billion. The impact that created Isidis Basin to the east took place afterward.
This channel therefore probably marks lava flows from that ancient volcano, though we must recognize the large uncertainty here.
A side note: Tomorrow the American rover Perseverance will attempt its landing in Jezero Crater, only 400 miles to the northeast.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Click for full image.
Cool image time. The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on October 26, 2020 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and labeled by the science team as simply an “Enigmatic Channel in Syrtis Major.”
It shows a channel going downhill to the northeast east in a series of steps, separated cliffs that in the southwest hikers call pour-offs, with the channel becoming initially deeper and then slowly becoming more shallow, until the next pour-off. On Earth the pour-offs would be waterfalls, with a deep pond at the base. On Mars?
Without doubt this channel poses mysteries, but maybe with a little research we can make it less enigmatic. Asl always, the overview map below gives context, and helps give a possible explanation for what created this channel.
The red box marks the channel’s location, on the edge of the giant lava field formed by the shield volcano Syrtis Major Planum, one of Mars least dramatic looking shield volcanoes which ironically was the first documented surface feature identified on another planet, discovered by Christiaan Huygens during his observations of Mars in 1659.
This shield volcano is thought to have been active about 3 billion years ago, give or take a half billion. The impact that created Isidis Basin to the east took place afterward.
This channel therefore probably marks lava flows from that ancient volcano, though we must recognize the large uncertainty here.
A side note: Tomorrow the American rover Perseverance will attempt its landing in Jezero Crater, only 400 miles to the northeast.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Hi,
This feature is very similar to subsurface erosional features on Earth. For instance, upgradient erosion related to groundwater discharge at springs produces these features. A really good example of this is process is Horsethief Spring west of the San Pedro River and east of Sierra Vista in SE Arizona. There are several examples in the same region.
If that’s the case, the geological term would be “piping”. While I’m at it, congratulations to the Perseverance team! “Jezero Base here . . . “