Peeling flood lava on Mars
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on October 2, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The scientists label this “enigmatic terrain” because its origins are a bit difficult to decipher. The location is just north of the equator, so this is in the dry tropics of Mars, where no near-surface ice is found at all. The location is also in the middle of Elysium Planitia, one of the largest flood lava plains on Mars. Elysium is a largely featureless flat plain, where flood lava from the large giant Martian volcanoes covered a vast region.
Here however that top layer of flood lava appears almost like peeling paint that failed to stick to the underlying rougher terrain. In many places it is gone, exposing a stippled surface that is also likely flood lava but laid down either in a rougher manner or eroded over time to leave a rougher surface.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, deep inside the smoothest region of Elysium Planitia. The inset however shows that this particular location is hardly smooth. While the flood lava to the north and south is almost polished smooth, this location is in a strip of ground where that top layer of lava has eroded away. Once again, it appears as if that top layer didn’t stick very well, and wind and time allowed it to peel away to expose the older rougher layers below.
The geological mystery is why that top layer didn’t stick and eroded away. Was there a difference in make-up between the two layers that made them easily separated? And why only here?
One answer might be the simplest. That top layer might not have eroded away. Instead, this rough area might be slightly higher in elevation, and the flood lava simply didn’t cover it all. Sounds good, eh? The problem is that the elevation data doesn’t match. The downhill grade is from north to south, and crosses this rough terrain. It simply isn’t higher.
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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.
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 October 2, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).
The scientists label this “enigmatic terrain” because its origins are a bit difficult to decipher. The location is just north of the equator, so this is in the dry tropics of Mars, where no near-surface ice is found at all. The location is also in the middle of Elysium Planitia, one of the largest flood lava plains on Mars. Elysium is a largely featureless flat plain, where flood lava from the large giant Martian volcanoes covered a vast region.
Here however that top layer of flood lava appears almost like peeling paint that failed to stick to the underlying rougher terrain. In many places it is gone, exposing a stippled surface that is also likely flood lava but laid down either in a rougher manner or eroded over time to leave a rougher surface.
The white dot on the overview map to the right marks the location, deep inside the smoothest region of Elysium Planitia. The inset however shows that this particular location is hardly smooth. While the flood lava to the north and south is almost polished smooth, this location is in a strip of ground where that top layer of lava has eroded away. Once again, it appears as if that top layer didn’t stick very well, and wind and time allowed it to peel away to expose the older rougher layers below.
The geological mystery is why that top layer didn’t stick and eroded away. Was there a difference in make-up between the two layers that made them easily separated? And why only here?
One answer might be the simplest. That top layer might not have eroded away. Instead, this rough area might be slightly higher in elevation, and the flood lava simply didn’t cover it all. Sounds good, eh? The problem is that the elevation data doesn’t match. The downhill grade is from north to south, and crosses this rough terrain. It simply isn’t higher.
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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