Martian ridges that imitate rivers
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on February 26, 2025 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The scientists describe these features as “dendritic relief features,” an apt description of the thousands of miles of river-like meandering ridges that orbital images have discovered in the past decade scattered across Mars, as noted in 2016:
The inverted channels are similar to those found elsewhere on Mars and Earth. They are made of sand and gravel deposited by a river and when the river becomes dry, the channels are left upstanding as the surrounding material erodes. On Earth, inverted channels often occur in dry, desert environments like Oman, Egypt, or Utah, where erosion rates are low – in most other environments, the channels are worn away before they can become inverted.
The most dramatic example of these Martian ridge rivers are the fernlike ridges in Antoniadi Crater. The ridges to the right however are almost as striking.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, inside the northern lowland plains but at 28 degrees north latitude just inside the dry equatorial region of Mars.
This particular bit of dentritic ridges happens to near the southernmost point of a large patch of such ridges, stretching more than 150 miles to the northwest. Apparently when this region had more water or near surface ice, this drainage produced these hardened channel beds, which resisted erosion when the surrounding landscape was worn away by wind and other processes.
Though the full image shows some signs that near surface ice might still exist here, these ridges suggest that most of the water is gone.
Once again it is important to note that though our Earthbound instincts insist these channels were formed by flowing liquid water, that does not have be the case. Glacial ice might have instead caused this, in a uniquely Martian manner.
At the moment we simply don’t know. Not enough data.
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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!
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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.
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Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on February 26, 2025 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The scientists describe these features as “dendritic relief features,” an apt description of the thousands of miles of river-like meandering ridges that orbital images have discovered in the past decade scattered across Mars, as noted in 2016:
The inverted channels are similar to those found elsewhere on Mars and Earth. They are made of sand and gravel deposited by a river and when the river becomes dry, the channels are left upstanding as the surrounding material erodes. On Earth, inverted channels often occur in dry, desert environments like Oman, Egypt, or Utah, where erosion rates are low – in most other environments, the channels are worn away before they can become inverted.
The most dramatic example of these Martian ridge rivers are the fernlike ridges in Antoniadi Crater. The ridges to the right however are almost as striking.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, inside the northern lowland plains but at 28 degrees north latitude just inside the dry equatorial region of Mars.
This particular bit of dentritic ridges happens to near the southernmost point of a large patch of such ridges, stretching more than 150 miles to the northwest. Apparently when this region had more water or near surface ice, this drainage produced these hardened channel beds, which resisted erosion when the surrounding landscape was worn away by wind and other processes.
Though the full image shows some signs that near surface ice might still exist here, these ridges suggest that most of the water is gone.
Once again it is important to note that though our Earthbound instincts insist these channels were formed by flowing liquid water, that does not have be the case. Glacial ice might have instead caused this, in a uniquely Martian manner.
At the moment we simply don’t know. Not enough data.
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.
It is interesting seeing far more impact craters on this site than some other recent posts… It would be interesting to see a studie regarding craters / age on the many fluid features on Mars… I actually agree with you once again Bob… Who knows how dust covered glaciers will act in Martian gravity, we all hold our fingers crossed for an age of liquid water, but Mars is alien, and we really need more data to understand the history of our neighbor.
NASA is the best in the world at this stuff… ESA is finally shooting Exo Mars soon.. I don’t want to jinx this mission, but I have been following it for…. 10, 15 years now.. no one will be more happy than me if it actually arrives and lands and deployes safely, I just have a bad feeling… I would have said the same if it was launched with the Russian lander platform..
NASA can nail this stuff… Is it outside the pail that EAS could have asked NASA for some help with the landing gear, and no doubt SpaceX for the launch… This is a mission I have watched for decades, I have no doubt the rover will probably work… And if so do some very important science… Let’s just see if it rolls off the lander…
The channels seem to flow towards the central point, a Mesa, which at the time may have been an impact crater as the low spot, which now becomes a high spot from erosion.