The inconceivable scale of Mars’ canyons
Today’s cool image takes us to one of Mars’ biggest canyon systems that while linked to Valles Marineris, the biggest Martian canyon of them all, is considered a separate canyon system because it is made up of a labyrinth of criss-crossing canyons instead of a single major canyon line.
In fact, its name is Noctis Labyrinthus, as shown on the overview map to the right. In many ways its complex pattern is reminiscent of the chaos terrain seen mostly in Mars’ mid-latitudes, but there are major differences. The rectangle marks the area we shall zoom into below to show these differences as well as to feebly illustrate the grand scale of these canyons.
First, the formation of these canyons is closely linked to the volcanic events that formed the three giant volcanoes to the west. They are also strongly linked (in ways not yet fully understood) with the suspected catastrophic floods that drained from Noctis, through Valles Marineris, and out into the northern lowland plains to the east, eons ago when this dry equatorial region could have been wet.
Click for interactive mosaic
The picture to the right was complied from two different cameras on Mars Rennaissance Orbiter (MRO). The inset comes from a high resolution photo taken on May 15, 2023. The wider view is a mosaic created by the global coverage of MRO’s context camera.
First some numbers. Both Malam Cavus and Layl Cavus are deep, about 12,000 feet, or about two miles. Malam is about 15 by 30 miles across, while Layl is about 22 miles wide. To get a rough idea of the scale, the inset shows only the top half of the descent into the canyon, about 5,000 feet or equivalent to the descent into the Grand Canyon from the South Rim. Yet, this is only halfway down. Moreover, these two giant depressions pale in comparison to Valles Marineris to the east, with a depth of 30,000 feet and an overall width ranging from 40 to 200 miles in places.
Still, the nose of that ridgeline would make a good route for a hiking trail down into Layl Cavus. Imagine the views!
The context camera mosaic reveals some things that are not evident in the high resolution image of that cliff wall. These canyons do not appear to have formed from a flow going through them. Instead, they appear to be gigantic sinkholes, the surface sagging because material underground was being removed, either by sublimation or washed away during those floods.
In fact, the overall geology strongly suggests that some underground material drained down from the volcanoes, flowing underground along faults under Noctis Labyrinthus, and then emerged on the surface at Valles Marineris to carve its way east until it exited into the northern lowland plains.
What was that material? Scientists for decades have reasonably assumed it was liquid water, since these features so closely resemble similar water-carved features on Earth. The problem has always been that no scientist has yet come up with a satisfactory model that would allow liquid water to exist on the surface of Mars. The atmosphere is too thin and cold, causing ice to immediately sublimate into gas.
Could that underground flow have been ice, or a combination of ice and a very temporary melting producing liquid water for short periods of time and thus some lubrication to enhance flow? I am guessing, but I suspect, based on everything I have read about Mars’ research in the past decade, the planetary science community is beginning to lean in this vague direction.
Nothing however can be confirmed until we have actual data from the surface, something that will take decades, possibly centuries, to obtain.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:
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Today’s cool image takes us to one of Mars’ biggest canyon systems that while linked to Valles Marineris, the biggest Martian canyon of them all, is considered a separate canyon system because it is made up of a labyrinth of criss-crossing canyons instead of a single major canyon line.
In fact, its name is Noctis Labyrinthus, as shown on the overview map to the right. In many ways its complex pattern is reminiscent of the chaos terrain seen mostly in Mars’ mid-latitudes, but there are major differences. The rectangle marks the area we shall zoom into below to show these differences as well as to feebly illustrate the grand scale of these canyons.
First, the formation of these canyons is closely linked to the volcanic events that formed the three giant volcanoes to the west. They are also strongly linked (in ways not yet fully understood) with the suspected catastrophic floods that drained from Noctis, through Valles Marineris, and out into the northern lowland plains to the east, eons ago when this dry equatorial region could have been wet.
Click for interactive mosaic
The picture to the right was complied from two different cameras on Mars Rennaissance Orbiter (MRO). The inset comes from a high resolution photo taken on May 15, 2023. The wider view is a mosaic created by the global coverage of MRO’s context camera.
First some numbers. Both Malam Cavus and Layl Cavus are deep, about 12,000 feet, or about two miles. Malam is about 15 by 30 miles across, while Layl is about 22 miles wide. To get a rough idea of the scale, the inset shows only the top half of the descent into the canyon, about 5,000 feet or equivalent to the descent into the Grand Canyon from the South Rim. Yet, this is only halfway down. Moreover, these two giant depressions pale in comparison to Valles Marineris to the east, with a depth of 30,000 feet and an overall width ranging from 40 to 200 miles in places.
Still, the nose of that ridgeline would make a good route for a hiking trail down into Layl Cavus. Imagine the views!
The context camera mosaic reveals some things that are not evident in the high resolution image of that cliff wall. These canyons do not appear to have formed from a flow going through them. Instead, they appear to be gigantic sinkholes, the surface sagging because material underground was being removed, either by sublimation or washed away during those floods.
In fact, the overall geology strongly suggests that some underground material drained down from the volcanoes, flowing underground along faults under Noctis Labyrinthus, and then emerged on the surface at Valles Marineris to carve its way east until it exited into the northern lowland plains.
What was that material? Scientists for decades have reasonably assumed it was liquid water, since these features so closely resemble similar water-carved features on Earth. The problem has always been that no scientist has yet come up with a satisfactory model that would allow liquid water to exist on the surface of Mars. The atmosphere is too thin and cold, causing ice to immediately sublimate into gas.
Could that underground flow have been ice, or a combination of ice and a very temporary melting producing liquid water for short periods of time and thus some lubrication to enhance flow? I am guessing, but I suspect, based on everything I have read about Mars’ research in the past decade, the planetary science community is beginning to lean in this vague direction.
Nothing however can be confirmed until we have actual data from the surface, something that will take decades, possibly centuries, to obtain.
The support of my readers through the years has given 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. Four years ago, just before the 2020 election I wrote that Joe Biden's mental health was suspect. Only in this year has the propaganda mainstream media decided to recognize that basic fact.
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. Even today NASA and Congress refuse to 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.
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five 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:
5. 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. And if you buy the books through the ebookit links, I get a larger cut and I get it sooner.
Firefly, not FireFire.
And Miranda is the planet where Reavers were “created” in “Firefly”.
Sorry, I meant to associate my previous comment with the post about the Miranda engine.
“Miranda”
River Tam ‘Serenity’ 2005 Universal
The prelude to what is arguably a ranking movie fight scene pound-for-pound.
“Start with the part where Jayne gets knocked out by a 90-pound girl ’cause… I don’t think that’s ever getting old.”
Hoban Washburn ‘Serenity’ 2005 Universal
Blair Ivey,
It is two decades later, and is still isn’t old.