Swirls and mesas in Valles Marineris
Click for full image. For the original of the inset go here.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated and cropped to post here, was taken on June 13, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label as “fractures in West Candor Chasma,” one of the side canyons that form Mars’ gigantic Valles Marineris, the largest canyon system known in the solar system.
To my eye, I don’t see fractures as much as swirling and curving outcrop ridges, as if the twisted layering here is so steeply tilted so that it is almost vertical, with the more resistant edges sticking up out of the dust and dunes. The color corrected inset zooms in on some of these swirls, though this better view hardly clarifies things. Note how the upper curves seem to suddenly cut off, almost as if someone had sliced them with a knife. Don’t ask me to explain.
The overview map shows us where this spot is within Valles Marineris.
The black cross at the western end of Candor Chasma on the overview map above marks the location of this rough and strange terrain on the floor of the canyon. In this part of Valles Marineris the canyon is not so deep. The floor only sits about 10,000 feet below the rim (which is still twice as deep as the Grand Canyon on Earth).
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
Click for full image. For the original of the inset go here.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, rotated and cropped to post here, was taken on June 13, 2022 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows what the scientists label as “fractures in West Candor Chasma,” one of the side canyons that form Mars’ gigantic Valles Marineris, the largest canyon system known in the solar system.
To my eye, I don’t see fractures as much as swirling and curving outcrop ridges, as if the twisted layering here is so steeply tilted so that it is almost vertical, with the more resistant edges sticking up out of the dust and dunes. The color corrected inset zooms in on some of these swirls, though this better view hardly clarifies things. Note how the upper curves seem to suddenly cut off, almost as if someone had sliced them with a knife. Don’t ask me to explain.
The overview map shows us where this spot is within Valles Marineris.
The black cross at the western end of Candor Chasma on the overview map above marks the location of this rough and strange terrain on the floor of the canyon. In this part of Valles Marineris the canyon is not so deep. The floor only sits about 10,000 feet below the rim (which is still twice as deep as the Grand Canyon on Earth).
Readers!
Every February I run a fund-raising drive during my birthday month. This year I celebrate my 72nd birthday, and hope and plan to continue writing and posting on Behind the Black for as long as I am able.
I hope my readers will support this effort. As I did in my November fund-raising drive, I am offering autographed copies of my books for large donations. Donate $250 and you can have a choice of the hardback of either Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8 or Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space. Donate $200 and you can get an autographed paperback copy of either. IMPORTANT! If you donate enough to get a book, please email me separately to tell me which book you want and the address to mail it to.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. 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.
Nazca lines. It’s aliens.