Taking a look back at a Martian pit
Click for full image.
The pit to the right could almost be considered the first “cool image” on Behind the Black. It was first posted on June 20, 2011. Though I had already posted a number of very interesting images, this appears to be the first that I specifically labeled as “cool.”
The image, taken by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), had been requested by a seventh grade Mars student team at Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, California, and shows a pit on the southeastern flank of the volcano Pavonis Mons, the middle volcano in Mars’ well-known chain of three giant volcanoes. A close look at the shadowed area with the exposure cranked up suggests that this pit does not open up into a more extensive lava tube.
What inspired me to repost this image today was the release of a new image from Mars Odyssey of this pit and the surrounding terrain, taken on July 31, 2019 and shown below to the right.
Click for full image.
The white box indicates the area covered by the MRO image above. The top of the volcano is to the northwest, so that the slope heads downhill to the southeast.
The caption states that “the linear features [going from the northeast to the southwest] in the image are concentric faults.” Apparently, as Pavonis Mons rose it caused numerous concentric faults to form all around it, as shown by these features.
What is intriguing is the interplay between the lava flow depression going downhill at right angles to these concentric faults. That depression probably indicates the route taken by lava, either on the surface or in a lava tube below the depression itself. At one point that flow is redirected sideways for a short distance by one of those concentric faults, with most of the flow appearing to be pirated by that fault. When the remaining flow leaves that fault it continues downhill until it reaches another large lower fault, where it apparently gets entirely pirated to run within it to the southwest. The line of depressions within that lower fault suggests the existence of a lava tube, a supposition further reinforced by the pit.
What this wider image also suggests is that, even though the pit itself did not provide a direct skylight into a lava tube below, there are almost certainly underground voids of some kind here, running along that line of depressions. Mars’ lighter gravity and different composition would make these lava tubes different from Earth’s, but the superficial evidence does suggest they exist.
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
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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.
The pit to the right could almost be considered the first “cool image” on Behind the Black. It was first posted on June 20, 2011. Though I had already posted a number of very interesting images, this appears to be the first that I specifically labeled as “cool.”
The image, taken by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), had been requested by a seventh grade Mars student team at Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, California, and shows a pit on the southeastern flank of the volcano Pavonis Mons, the middle volcano in Mars’ well-known chain of three giant volcanoes. A close look at the shadowed area with the exposure cranked up suggests that this pit does not open up into a more extensive lava tube.
What inspired me to repost this image today was the release of a new image from Mars Odyssey of this pit and the surrounding terrain, taken on July 31, 2019 and shown below to the right.
Click for full image.
The white box indicates the area covered by the MRO image above. The top of the volcano is to the northwest, so that the slope heads downhill to the southeast.
The caption states that “the linear features [going from the northeast to the southwest] in the image are concentric faults.” Apparently, as Pavonis Mons rose it caused numerous concentric faults to form all around it, as shown by these features.
What is intriguing is the interplay between the lava flow depression going downhill at right angles to these concentric faults. That depression probably indicates the route taken by lava, either on the surface or in a lava tube below the depression itself. At one point that flow is redirected sideways for a short distance by one of those concentric faults, with most of the flow appearing to be pirated by that fault. When the remaining flow leaves that fault it continues downhill until it reaches another large lower fault, where it apparently gets entirely pirated to run within it to the southwest. The line of depressions within that lower fault suggests the existence of a lava tube, a supposition further reinforced by the pit.
What this wider image also suggests is that, even though the pit itself did not provide a direct skylight into a lava tube below, there are almost certainly underground voids of some kind here, running along that line of depressions. Mars’ lighter gravity and different composition would make these lava tubes different from Earth’s, but the superficial evidence does suggest they exist.
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.
I wonder where that seventh grade student is now, eight years later? Hopefully they are doing great things in space or are almost ready too. Very cool for kids that young to be able to request this image.
SHARAD is an instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is a ground radar instrument with a resolution of 15 meters (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHARAD). Has any tried to use its data to look for lava tubes around mars volcanoes?
Terrence: From what I understand, the bulk of SHARAD’s research so far has been to look for buried water/ice. I am unaware of anyone doing what you suggest. At the same time, the results from SHARAD have not been given a lot of press, so this unawareness could simply be my ignorance.