Martian pits or dark splotches?
Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on January 2, 2021 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a windswept sandy region of ridges and dunes with two dark features nestled between ridges.
What are these dark patches? At the available resolution they appear to be deep pits, with the one on the right having a significant overhang. And if these are pits, they would appear significantly different than most of the previously identified Martian pits, which are usually somewhat circular in shape. These features have very complex shapes, as if the pit is conforming itself to the terrain that surrounds it.
The resolution, however, is not good enough to confirm this interpretation. These dark patches could also be exposed volcanic material, darker than the surrounding terrain. The location, as shown in the overview map below, adds weight to this interpretation.
The white cross indicates the location of these dark features, placing them inside the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest deposit of volcanic ash on Mars. In other places in or near this formation where dust devils have blown the ash away the underlying volcanic material appears darker, though not exactly like this.
There is a third possibility, though more unlikely. These dark features might be volcanic vents, as this location is also located in what I like to label Mars’ volcano country. This is the least likely hypothesis, however, as the features bear little resemblance to other vents that I have seen so far on Mars. Can’t rule it out, however.
Ah, the uncertainty of science. Makes you want to go there and dig a little deeper to find out what these really are, doesn’t it?
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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
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Click for full image.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on January 2, 2021 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a windswept sandy region of ridges and dunes with two dark features nestled between ridges.
What are these dark patches? At the available resolution they appear to be deep pits, with the one on the right having a significant overhang. And if these are pits, they would appear significantly different than most of the previously identified Martian pits, which are usually somewhat circular in shape. These features have very complex shapes, as if the pit is conforming itself to the terrain that surrounds it.
The resolution, however, is not good enough to confirm this interpretation. These dark patches could also be exposed volcanic material, darker than the surrounding terrain. The location, as shown in the overview map below, adds weight to this interpretation.
The white cross indicates the location of these dark features, placing them inside the Medusae Fossae Formation, the largest deposit of volcanic ash on Mars. In other places in or near this formation where dust devils have blown the ash away the underlying volcanic material appears darker, though not exactly like this.
There is a third possibility, though more unlikely. These dark features might be volcanic vents, as this location is also located in what I like to label Mars’ volcano country. This is the least likely hypothesis, however, as the features bear little resemblance to other vents that I have seen so far on Mars. Can’t rule it out, however.
Ah, the uncertainty of science. Makes you want to go there and dig a little deeper to find out what these really are, doesn’t it?
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
“Cool image time! The photo to the right, cropped to post here, was taken on January 2, 2021 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).”
elephant man.
Very unusual, curious.
The lower right picture has a large circular rock like a big “cog artifact” in a lake of black goo…
It’s the second time I noticed a circular object… In a prior photograph of a canyon contributing to a large flow that went off several cliffs… There’s a circular bridge crossing the canyon with a few objects on top of it. Too blurry to tell if it’s an obstruction, or a natural Bridge over the canyon.
I’m inspecting this original picture, there’s a dozen black splotches on the ancient mud flood plain. No prominent “shadows” from the dune peaks… some of the black material appears along the crest of dunes like it’s a heavier particle different from the blown sand. (I wish it was in color, it might be dark blue) In other places, the blackness fills the low spots where there would be puddles or lakes.
Because the position of the sun is mostly overhead, I don’t think they are windows. Dark material perhaps, uncovered by the weathering of billions of years. But this could be wrong as I can see lava flows? Like snake River beds all across the top of the picture. Now raised above the plain. Also in lower left at the base of one of the taller ridges with the largest deposit of black beneath it, the black has spread down wind like a vent, but it could just be the wind uncovering of some dark material underneath.
So many mysteries. So many planets, so little time.