Knobs on the floor of a Martian caldera
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on February 14, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and shows what the scientists have dubbed as “enigmatic knobs” located on the caldera floor of a Martian shield volcano.
The knobs themselves, while puzzling, aren’t that interesting on their own. They are no more than 100 to 200 feet high, and are relatively featureless. Since most lack a pit at their peaks, they are probably not some form of small volcanic vent, though this conclusion is uncertain. The location, at about 30 degrees south latitude, suggests the faint possibility of near surface ice, which could make these mud volcanoes, or a very specific Arctic-type permafrost mound dubbed pingos, but once again the lack of any central pit at their peaks makes these origins also doubtful.
What the knobs however revealed to me was a giant Martian shield volcano I had never noticed before, even though it was hiding in plain sight.
The red dot on the overview map to the right marks this location, inside the caldera of the shield volcano Hadriacus Mons. Martian shield volcanoes tend to be relatively flat, as their lava flows out slowly over a long time, covering a wide area. In the case of Hadriacus, it is so flat that I never noticed its existence previously on the upper slopes leading down into Hellas Basin, the death valley of Mars. And yet, it is almost three hundred miles across, with a caldera forty miles wide standing more than 50,000 feet above the floor of Hellas.
The many drainage channels flowing down its southwest flanks into Hellas are thought [pdf] to have been formed by a combination of volcanic, fluvial, and catastrophic flood events, all taking place more than 1.4 billion years ago. Strangely, none of these drainage channels flow into DaoValles. Instead, they drain directly into the floor of Hellas to the west of Dao.
Moreover, in recognizing the existence of Hadriacus the origins of Dao Valles come into focus. While it is appears to be filled with glacial features today, its sudden beginning on the flanks of Hadriacus suggests it might have originally formed as a volcanic vent and lava tube, which was subsequently carved wider with its roof removed by ice/liquid water processes.
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.
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on February 14, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and shows what the scientists have dubbed as “enigmatic knobs” located on the caldera floor of a Martian shield volcano.
The knobs themselves, while puzzling, aren’t that interesting on their own. They are no more than 100 to 200 feet high, and are relatively featureless. Since most lack a pit at their peaks, they are probably not some form of small volcanic vent, though this conclusion is uncertain. The location, at about 30 degrees south latitude, suggests the faint possibility of near surface ice, which could make these mud volcanoes, or a very specific Arctic-type permafrost mound dubbed pingos, but once again the lack of any central pit at their peaks makes these origins also doubtful.
What the knobs however revealed to me was a giant Martian shield volcano I had never noticed before, even though it was hiding in plain sight.
The red dot on the overview map to the right marks this location, inside the caldera of the shield volcano Hadriacus Mons. Martian shield volcanoes tend to be relatively flat, as their lava flows out slowly over a long time, covering a wide area. In the case of Hadriacus, it is so flat that I never noticed its existence previously on the upper slopes leading down into Hellas Basin, the death valley of Mars. And yet, it is almost three hundred miles across, with a caldera forty miles wide standing more than 50,000 feet above the floor of Hellas.
The many drainage channels flowing down its southwest flanks into Hellas are thought [pdf] to have been formed by a combination of volcanic, fluvial, and catastrophic flood events, all taking place more than 1.4 billion years ago. Strangely, none of these drainage channels flow into DaoValles. Instead, they drain directly into the floor of Hellas to the west of Dao.
Moreover, in recognizing the existence of Hadriacus the origins of Dao Valles come into focus. While it is appears to be filled with glacial features today, its sudden beginning on the flanks of Hadriacus suggests it might have originally formed as a volcanic vent and lava tube, which was subsequently carved wider with its roof removed by ice/liquid water processes.
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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