Some more “What the heck?” geology on Mars
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on January 1, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a small part of a region dubbed Iani Chaos, but what this geology shows is way beyond my pay grade.
Why there are those tiny aligned mounds, oriented at right angles to the slope, is not clear at all. Nor is it obvious what created the lighter chaotic terrain at the base of the slope.
The elevation difference between the low and high points is about 400 feet. The slope continues up to the west for another 600 feet to the top of a north-south ridgeline. The patterns here suggest vaguely some flows downhill, such as that widening east-to-west gap, but only vaguely.
The look at the overview map only compounds the mystery.
The white dot marks the location, very close to the equator and to the east of Valles Marineris and the theorized inland sea that some scientists believe once existed after the catastrophic floods had poured out of that giant canyon.
The landscape here however has less to do with those floods and more to do with another flow that came down from the south and flowed northward in Ares Vallis and around the ancient crater dubbed Aram Chaos. The landscape is also incredibly complex, far more complex than seen in the picture above. Much of the high terrain is covered with parallel grooves. The low terrain however alternates randomly from the craziness we see above to smooth featureless dust-filled bowls, interspersed with conelike mounds that could be remnant volcanoes of either lava or ice or some mixture in-between. The shape of much of the grooved terrain suggests it is very ancient lava flows that were subsequently groved by overlying glaciers.
This however is a guess that I have zero confidence in. Whatever happened to form these features took a long time and involved a variety of extremely different events. Untangling it all could take the entire lifetimes of several generations of geologists. And that would involve them being there, walking the terrain, not tens of millions of miles away studying orbital images.
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.
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Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on January 1, 2024 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows a small part of a region dubbed Iani Chaos, but what this geology shows is way beyond my pay grade.
Why there are those tiny aligned mounds, oriented at right angles to the slope, is not clear at all. Nor is it obvious what created the lighter chaotic terrain at the base of the slope.
The elevation difference between the low and high points is about 400 feet. The slope continues up to the west for another 600 feet to the top of a north-south ridgeline. The patterns here suggest vaguely some flows downhill, such as that widening east-to-west gap, but only vaguely.
The look at the overview map only compounds the mystery.
The white dot marks the location, very close to the equator and to the east of Valles Marineris and the theorized inland sea that some scientists believe once existed after the catastrophic floods had poured out of that giant canyon.
The landscape here however has less to do with those floods and more to do with another flow that came down from the south and flowed northward in Ares Vallis and around the ancient crater dubbed Aram Chaos. The landscape is also incredibly complex, far more complex than seen in the picture above. Much of the high terrain is covered with parallel grooves. The low terrain however alternates randomly from the craziness we see above to smooth featureless dust-filled bowls, interspersed with conelike mounds that could be remnant volcanoes of either lava or ice or some mixture in-between. The shape of much of the grooved terrain suggests it is very ancient lava flows that were subsequently groved by overlying glaciers.
This however is a guess that I have zero confidence in. Whatever happened to form these features took a long time and involved a variety of extremely different events. Untangling it all could take the entire lifetimes of several generations of geologists. And that would involve them being there, walking the terrain, not tens of millions of miles away studying orbital images.
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.
Robert, or anyone else, have you ever seen a ‘wind map’ overlay for any portions of Mars? Is that even possible? Regardless, I think it’d be interesting to overlay winds on a map like that just to see what it looks like.
Ron: See this post:
The global wind patterns on Mars, determined by the orientation of dunes
As I have suggested to my readers numerous times, Behind the Black is a resource. Do a search and you shall find. I do it all the time, because I certainly can’t remember everything I’ve posted.
Thanks Robert, that is a cool map. I will look first, ask questions later, next time!