Evidence of Martian near-surface ice in an unusual location
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on May 27, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Labeled merely as a terrain sample, it was likely taken not as part of any specific research request, but to fill a gap in the camera’s picture-taking schedule so as to maintain its proper temperature.
The picture however shows features that help confirm earlier research into the near-surface ice believed to permeate Mars’ middle latitudes. The knobby flat terrain both inside and outside of the crater resembles what scientists have labeled “brain terrain”, an as-yet unexplained geological feature unique to Mars and usually associated with near-surface ice and the glacial features found above 30 degrees latitude.
This 1.4-mile-wide unnamed crater is located at 40 degrees north latitude, so expecting near-surface ice or glacial features here is not unreasonable. The location however is different for other reasons, that make this data more intriguing.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, about 80 miles west of the western edge of the caldera of the giant shield volcano Alba Mons and very high on the mountain’s flanks. The inset shows that this crater is one of three in the same region of flood lava that poured off the volcano an estimated 3.2 to 3.6 billion years ago. The low crater count here indicates the age, and tells us that the few impacts visible occurred more recently. It is possible that the two smaller impacts were caused by either secondary ejecta from the largest impact, or all three resulted from a single large bolide that broke up as it thundered through the Martian atmosphere before hitting the ground.
Planetary scientists have studied the craters in this region, and concluded that “The presence of ring-mold crater morphologies and brain-terrain texture preserved on the surface of flow features suggests that they are possibly formed of near-surface ice-rich bodies.”
In other words, these craters were impacted into ice-rich ground, which melted the ice. The liquid then percolated up to fill the crater, subsequently refreezing. In the several billion years since various theorized erosion and sublimation processes caused the surface to become the textured brain terrain we see now.
What is important is that this crater suggests the presence of easily accessible near-surface ice, even on the high flanks of this giant shield volcano, at a location we should instead expect to merely find hard flood lava.
For a human colony this location is not ideal, because the high elevation makes the atmosphere so thin. That it appears to have ample near-surface ice however tells us once again that Mars is not a dry planet, but rich in accessible ice, especially in latitudes higher than 30 degrees.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
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4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on May 27, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). Labeled merely as a terrain sample, it was likely taken not as part of any specific research request, but to fill a gap in the camera’s picture-taking schedule so as to maintain its proper temperature.
The picture however shows features that help confirm earlier research into the near-surface ice believed to permeate Mars’ middle latitudes. The knobby flat terrain both inside and outside of the crater resembles what scientists have labeled “brain terrain”, an as-yet unexplained geological feature unique to Mars and usually associated with near-surface ice and the glacial features found above 30 degrees latitude.
This 1.4-mile-wide unnamed crater is located at 40 degrees north latitude, so expecting near-surface ice or glacial features here is not unreasonable. The location however is different for other reasons, that make this data more intriguing.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, about 80 miles west of the western edge of the caldera of the giant shield volcano Alba Mons and very high on the mountain’s flanks. The inset shows that this crater is one of three in the same region of flood lava that poured off the volcano an estimated 3.2 to 3.6 billion years ago. The low crater count here indicates the age, and tells us that the few impacts visible occurred more recently. It is possible that the two smaller impacts were caused by either secondary ejecta from the largest impact, or all three resulted from a single large bolide that broke up as it thundered through the Martian atmosphere before hitting the ground.
Planetary scientists have studied the craters in this region, and concluded that “The presence of ring-mold crater morphologies and brain-terrain texture preserved on the surface of flow features suggests that they are possibly formed of near-surface ice-rich bodies.”
In other words, these craters were impacted into ice-rich ground, which melted the ice. The liquid then percolated up to fill the crater, subsequently refreezing. In the several billion years since various theorized erosion and sublimation processes caused the surface to become the textured brain terrain we see now.
What is important is that this crater suggests the presence of easily accessible near-surface ice, even on the high flanks of this giant shield volcano, at a location we should instead expect to merely find hard flood lava.
For a human colony this location is not ideal, because the high elevation makes the atmosphere so thin. That it appears to have ample near-surface ice however tells us once again that Mars is not a dry planet, but rich in accessible ice, especially in latitudes higher than 30 degrees.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows 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. 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. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally 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.
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.
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