Martian crater overwhelmed by glacier?
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on January 28, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It shows what the science team labels a “modified crater.”
What I see is an old crater almost completely covered by glacial material. That material however is also very old, as there are numerous small craters on its surface, enough that it must have been here for a long time. Its cracked surface also suggests this glacier is very old.
Thus, while we might have ice here, buried by a thin layer of dust and debris to prevent it from sublimating away, it must be very old ice. The many climate cycles caused by the extreme swings in Mars’ rotational tilt, from 11 to 60 degrees, have apparently not caused this ice to ebb and flow very much.
Might it therefore not be ice, but hardened lava?
The location, as shown by the overview map below, provides some context, but only makes this mystery more puzzling.
The white cross indicates the location of this glacier-filled crater. Its latitude is about 40 degrees south, which places it in the southern mid-latitude bands where scientists have found a lot of ice-filled craters and glacial debris. In fact, just to the east, in the mountainous northern arc that makes up the north border of the Argyre Basin, scientists have found numerous glacial features.
So, based on this limited information, the photo appears to be showing us glacial debris. Yet if so, why has this glacier survived apparently almost unchanged while many others in the same Martian mid-latitude bands show cyclical patterns of ebb and flow, as the planet’s tilt swung back and forth?
Note too that if you click on the image and look at the full picture, the glacier that overwhelms this crater is actually filling what appears to be a much larger crater, though far more distorted along its rim. Once again, it shows no cyclical pattern, and instead appears to have sat here relatively unchanged for a very long time. The small impact craters on it also suggest that it is old, but also that whatever those impacts hit was harder than ice.
Ice or lava? Old or young? We need more information to explain this intriguing Martian geology.
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.
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Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on January 28, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It shows what the science team labels a “modified crater.”
What I see is an old crater almost completely covered by glacial material. That material however is also very old, as there are numerous small craters on its surface, enough that it must have been here for a long time. Its cracked surface also suggests this glacier is very old.
Thus, while we might have ice here, buried by a thin layer of dust and debris to prevent it from sublimating away, it must be very old ice. The many climate cycles caused by the extreme swings in Mars’ rotational tilt, from 11 to 60 degrees, have apparently not caused this ice to ebb and flow very much.
Might it therefore not be ice, but hardened lava?
The location, as shown by the overview map below, provides some context, but only makes this mystery more puzzling.
The white cross indicates the location of this glacier-filled crater. Its latitude is about 40 degrees south, which places it in the southern mid-latitude bands where scientists have found a lot of ice-filled craters and glacial debris. In fact, just to the east, in the mountainous northern arc that makes up the north border of the Argyre Basin, scientists have found numerous glacial features.
So, based on this limited information, the photo appears to be showing us glacial debris. Yet if so, why has this glacier survived apparently almost unchanged while many others in the same Martian mid-latitude bands show cyclical patterns of ebb and flow, as the planet’s tilt swung back and forth?
Note too that if you click on the image and look at the full picture, the glacier that overwhelms this crater is actually filling what appears to be a much larger crater, though far more distorted along its rim. Once again, it shows no cyclical pattern, and instead appears to have sat here relatively unchanged for a very long time. The small impact craters on it also suggest that it is old, but also that whatever those impacts hit was harder than ice.
Ice or lava? Old or young? We need more information to explain this intriguing Martian geology.
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.
Oh wow! This is such a great pic. The softness of the craters in the overflowing mass suggest possible sublimation. That gash towards the center is really bizarre.
I enlarged the image, paying attention to the outfall in the crater. My impression, based on observing Earth formations, and understanding Mars is alien, is ice. It doesn’t ‘feel’ like lave, although that is a very poor way to make a judgment. Only boots on the ground will know for sure.