Puzzling crater on alien Mars
Click for original image.
Today’s cool image once again illustrates that the things that orbiters photograph on the Martian surface are not always what they seem at first glance. The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 23, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label as “layering” in this small mile-wide crater.
That layering, seen on both the interior and exterior slopes of its circular rim, is what makes this crater puzzling. It suggests this crater was not formed by an impact, but by volcanism. The layers suggest repeated eruptive events. That the crater sits above the surround plain by about 100 feet strengthens this conclusion.
And yet, a look at the overview map below suggests this conclusion is premature.
The white dot inside the large 250-wide Ladon Basin marks this crater’s location. Ladon appears to be a very ancient very eroded impact crater, barely visible any longer, with a very distinct canyon, Ladon Valles, entering it from the south, and a second canyon, Morava Valles, exiting it from the north and eventually linking to Ares Vallis to drain into the northern lowland plains of Chryse Planitia.
Many of the craters in Ladon Basin appear to sit above the surrounding terrain. This suggests their impact occurred a long time ago, compressing the material in the crater so it was resistant to the erosion that subsequently removed the ground around it. Research has suggested that there was water and ice at one time in this basin, though not enough to form a lake, but certainly enough to cause that erosion.
The layers however once again make the impact interpretation difficult. An impact doesn’t leave behind such neat layers, unless those layers were placed down after the impact, covering the crater, and then removed by erosion. The problem with this is that the layers seem so integral to the crater’s structure. Could they be a sign of layers that existed before the impact?
Theories and theories and theories. It is all guessing without more information.
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.
Click for original image.
Today’s cool image once again illustrates that the things that orbiters photograph on the Martian surface are not always what they seem at first glance. The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on March 23, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label as “layering” in this small mile-wide crater.
That layering, seen on both the interior and exterior slopes of its circular rim, is what makes this crater puzzling. It suggests this crater was not formed by an impact, but by volcanism. The layers suggest repeated eruptive events. That the crater sits above the surround plain by about 100 feet strengthens this conclusion.
And yet, a look at the overview map below suggests this conclusion is premature.
The white dot inside the large 250-wide Ladon Basin marks this crater’s location. Ladon appears to be a very ancient very eroded impact crater, barely visible any longer, with a very distinct canyon, Ladon Valles, entering it from the south, and a second canyon, Morava Valles, exiting it from the north and eventually linking to Ares Vallis to drain into the northern lowland plains of Chryse Planitia.
Many of the craters in Ladon Basin appear to sit above the surrounding terrain. This suggests their impact occurred a long time ago, compressing the material in the crater so it was resistant to the erosion that subsequently removed the ground around it. Research has suggested that there was water and ice at one time in this basin, though not enough to form a lake, but certainly enough to cause that erosion.
The layers however once again make the impact interpretation difficult. An impact doesn’t leave behind such neat layers, unless those layers were placed down after the impact, covering the crater, and then removed by erosion. The problem with this is that the layers seem so integral to the crater’s structure. Could they be a sign of layers that existed before the impact?
Theories and theories and theories. It is all guessing without more information.
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.
That’s a Maar by the looks of it.