Martian rootless cones
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 8, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The camera team labeled this picture simply “Rootless Cones,” which is a feature that is created when the lava that covers the surface is thin, allowing the heated material below (which is not lava) to burst upward, producing the cone and caldera. If you look at the full image you will see other similar clusters of cones scattered about on this very flat and featureless plain. Apparently, the material that this lava plain covered had several similar bursts in a number of areas.
Such cones in this particular lava field are not rare, and in fact are evidence that this particular field is young.
The white dot inside the Athabasca Valles flood lava plain, near the top left of the overview map to the right, marks this location. Some scientists have proposed [pdf] that Athabasca is the youngest large lava flood plain on Mars, covering an area about the size of Great Britain in only a few weeks at most. Its lava flowed out from its main vent in the northeast to the southwest, and then split into two flows, one heading southeast and the other heading west. This particular location is near the westernmost reaches of that western flow. Here the lava ponded and hardened as this flat plain. Before it hardened however its heat apparently caused the bursts that formed these cones.
I suspect that these rootless cones are the kind of lava feature that quickly erodes. Their sharp freshness here reinforces the theory that Athabasca is young.
What I find interesting is the resemblance these cones have to the theorized mud cones in the northern lowland plains. There, it is believed the near-surface ice caused a mud volcano, producing the cone. Here, there is no ice, as Athabasca is near the equator in the dry equatorial regions of Mars. Yet, both liquid processes appear to produce similar features on Mars.
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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.
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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 March 8, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The camera team labeled this picture simply “Rootless Cones,” which is a feature that is created when the lava that covers the surface is thin, allowing the heated material below (which is not lava) to burst upward, producing the cone and caldera. If you look at the full image you will see other similar clusters of cones scattered about on this very flat and featureless plain. Apparently, the material that this lava plain covered had several similar bursts in a number of areas.
Such cones in this particular lava field are not rare, and in fact are evidence that this particular field is young.
The white dot inside the Athabasca Valles flood lava plain, near the top left of the overview map to the right, marks this location. Some scientists have proposed [pdf] that Athabasca is the youngest large lava flood plain on Mars, covering an area about the size of Great Britain in only a few weeks at most. Its lava flowed out from its main vent in the northeast to the southwest, and then split into two flows, one heading southeast and the other heading west. This particular location is near the westernmost reaches of that western flow. Here the lava ponded and hardened as this flat plain. Before it hardened however its heat apparently caused the bursts that formed these cones.
I suspect that these rootless cones are the kind of lava feature that quickly erodes. Their sharp freshness here reinforces the theory that Athabasca is young.
What I find interesting is the resemblance these cones have to the theorized mud cones in the northern lowland plains. There, it is believed the near-surface ice caused a mud volcano, producing the cone. Here, there is no ice, as Athabasca is near the equator in the dry equatorial regions of Mars. Yet, both liquid processes appear to produce similar features on Mars.
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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