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Fractures in the Martian northern lowland plains

Fractures in the northern lowland plains
Click for full image.

Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on April 21, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) of a spot in the Martian northern lowland plains.

Generally the surface of these lowland plains — especially at high latitudes above 30 degrees — tends to appear very water saturated, producing blobby features and what look like mud volcanoes. This picture however features something different, what the scientists have labeled fractures, geological features that appeared caused by dry conditions and sudden quake-like events. The break in the fracture near the top of the photo illustrates why water flow had little if anything to do with its formation. Other fractures in the full image show the same thing. Also the stippled surface along the picture’s right edge also suggest there is little near surface water or ice at this location.

The location, as shown by the overview map below, suggests that water might still have played a part, but only a long time ago.

Overview map

The white dot about 235 miles to the southwest of the landing site of Mars Pathfinder (the red dot) marks the location of these fractures. At 19 degrees north latitude, there should not much much near surface ice at this location. We are looking at either dust or bedrock. If the bedrock is hardened flood lava it is very unclear where it came from, as there appear to be no nearby volcanoes or vents.

The terrain here however was certainly shaped by the hypothesized catastrophic floods that scientists think poured out of Valles Marineris several billion years ago, and formed the proposed intermittent seas noted on the map. If you go to the image link and zoom in on its context map, you can see how the many mesas in this region have been shaped by those catastrophic floods. Each has a tail pointing away from the resurgence from Valles Marineris, as if a flood had rushed by traveling from south to north.

The fractures however were probably not caused by those floods, but by some tectonic or quake event that caused the ground to suddenly crack and separate. Whether that cracking occurred before or after the floods is quite unclear.

Genesis cover

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 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

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