Martian channels within Martian channels
Click for full image.
Whatever caused the meandering canyons on Mars, whether glaciers or liquid water, it was a process that was long-lived and multi-staged, as indicated by today’s cool image to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here. This photo, taken on June 28, 2020 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), shows a large canyon cutting downward from a high ridgeline to the north. As that canyon begins to flow out out of the mountains and into the plains to the south, a secondary inner channel appears, meandering down the center of the larger canyon.
This canyon is located at 35 degrees south latitude, in the mid-latitude region where scientists have found evidence of a lot of glaciers. In fact, there are some hints of eroded glacial material in the small channels to the west of this main canyon. Also, there appear to be patches of corroding glacial ice on the south-facing slopes of the east and west hills that define the main channel. In the canyon itself however there appear to be few if any glacial-type features.
The overview map below gives the location context.
The small white rectangle in the lower left indicates this photo’s location. The Medusae Fossae Formation is the largest volcanic ash deposit on Mars, and is thought to be the source of much of the planet’s dust and sand.
Whether glaciers or flowing liquid water created this channel within a channel, it involved two stages. For the sake of discussion let’s assume glaciers carved this canyon. First they pushed downward, cutting the larger channel. Later as the ice began to erode and sublimate away, the larger glacier would begin to disappear, allowing the smaller channel to form in its center.
And if flowing water the inner channel had to also have been a later development, after the main flow had dissipated.
Personally, the more I learn of Mars the more skeptical I have become of the possibility of flowing water as the cause of the red planet’s many meandering channels. More and more they appear to me to be the result of slow-moving glaciers, that came and went many times as Mars went through numerous climate cycles over many millions of years. Each time they left their mark on the terrain, carving out these numerous canyons that we on Earth automatically assume must have formed by liquid river flows.
On Mars however the rivers were ice, and they had a lot of time to flow.
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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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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c/o Robert Zimmerman
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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 full image.
Whatever caused the meandering canyons on Mars, whether glaciers or liquid water, it was a process that was long-lived and multi-staged, as indicated by today’s cool image to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here. This photo, taken on June 28, 2020 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), shows a large canyon cutting downward from a high ridgeline to the north. As that canyon begins to flow out out of the mountains and into the plains to the south, a secondary inner channel appears, meandering down the center of the larger canyon.
This canyon is located at 35 degrees south latitude, in the mid-latitude region where scientists have found evidence of a lot of glaciers. In fact, there are some hints of eroded glacial material in the small channels to the west of this main canyon. Also, there appear to be patches of corroding glacial ice on the south-facing slopes of the east and west hills that define the main channel. In the canyon itself however there appear to be few if any glacial-type features.
The overview map below gives the location context.
The small white rectangle in the lower left indicates this photo’s location. The Medusae Fossae Formation is the largest volcanic ash deposit on Mars, and is thought to be the source of much of the planet’s dust and sand.
Whether glaciers or flowing liquid water created this channel within a channel, it involved two stages. For the sake of discussion let’s assume glaciers carved this canyon. First they pushed downward, cutting the larger channel. Later as the ice began to erode and sublimate away, the larger glacier would begin to disappear, allowing the smaller channel to form in its center.
And if flowing water the inner channel had to also have been a later development, after the main flow had dissipated.
Personally, the more I learn of Mars the more skeptical I have become of the possibility of flowing water as the cause of the red planet’s many meandering channels. More and more they appear to me to be the result of slow-moving glaciers, that came and went many times as Mars went through numerous climate cycles over many millions of years. Each time they left their mark on the terrain, carving out these numerous canyons that we on Earth automatically assume must have formed by liquid river flows.
On Mars however the rivers were ice, and they had a lot of time to flow.
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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