Inverted river on Mars
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on May 30, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label as a “inverted fluvial system”.
Such features are not unusual on Mars. The theory explaining their formation is that this was once a channel where either water or ice flowed, packing the streambed down so that it was more dense than the surrounding terrain. After the flowing material disappeared, the less dense surrounding terrain eroded away, leaving the channel as a meandering ridge.
The location of this inverted channel, as shown in the overview map below, lends some weight to the flowing material being water or ice.
The black dot about 250 miles north of Opportunity’s landing site marks the location of this inverted channel. Note the theorized ocean and inland sea to the west. Note also the long meandering canyon between those theorized seas and this location. According to the data, scientists believe there was once a lot of flowing water, either liquid or ice, in this region, more than enough to create this channel.
Not so fast. The scientists have been very carefully vague in their label. They call this a “fluvial system”, which could describes any flowing material, including lava.
The second image to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken by the context camera on MRO. It shows a wider view of this fluvial system, with the area covered by the first picture above indicated by the white rectangle.
Drainage is likely from the east to the west, into the tadpole-like dry lake, likely the remains of an ancient crater. Even so, if this was a water drainage channel once, it was the strangest river channel I have seen. One cannot dismiss the possibility that this might have been formed by a volcanic process, and the channel might have carried lava instead of water.
Water, either liquid or ice, is still the most likely explanation, but until we can get some feet on the ground to actually study this location, we will not know for certain.
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
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken on May 30, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label as a “inverted fluvial system”.
Such features are not unusual on Mars. The theory explaining their formation is that this was once a channel where either water or ice flowed, packing the streambed down so that it was more dense than the surrounding terrain. After the flowing material disappeared, the less dense surrounding terrain eroded away, leaving the channel as a meandering ridge.
The location of this inverted channel, as shown in the overview map below, lends some weight to the flowing material being water or ice.
The black dot about 250 miles north of Opportunity’s landing site marks the location of this inverted channel. Note the theorized ocean and inland sea to the west. Note also the long meandering canyon between those theorized seas and this location. According to the data, scientists believe there was once a lot of flowing water, either liquid or ice, in this region, more than enough to create this channel.
Not so fast. The scientists have been very carefully vague in their label. They call this a “fluvial system”, which could describes any flowing material, including lava.
The second image to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and enhanced to post here, was taken by the context camera on MRO. It shows a wider view of this fluvial system, with the area covered by the first picture above indicated by the white rectangle.
Drainage is likely from the east to the west, into the tadpole-like dry lake, likely the remains of an ancient crater. Even so, if this was a water drainage channel once, it was the strangest river channel I have seen. One cannot dismiss the possibility that this might have been formed by a volcanic process, and the channel might have carried lava instead of water.
Water, either liquid or ice, is still the most likely explanation, but until we can get some feet on the ground to actually study this location, we will not know for certain.
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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