The northern interior rim of the largest volcano in the solar system
Click for original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on July 8, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows the northernmost interior rim of the caldera of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system.
This one picture provides another way to illustrate the monumental scale of much of Mars’ topography. From the top to the bottom this steep scarp descends about 5,900 feet, in a little more than two miles. Compare that to the trails that descend the Grand Canyon’s south rim, which drop about the same distance but do it in distances ranging from three to five times longer.
In other words, this cliff wall is steep. Finding a route for a trail either up or down would be difficult at best.
The red dot on the overview map to the right marks this location. Note that the crater in this northern edge of Olympus Mons’ caldera has its own name, Athena Patera, with patera indicating that scientists believe it was created by volcanic processes, not an impact.
The picture also shows evidence of an ancient landslide, marked by the raised debris on the left side of the cliff’s base. The material suggests a very large section from the cliff’s bottom third separated and slide down as a unit. The soft nature of the ground here also suggests that this slide occurred a long time ago, and has since been eroded and covered by Martian dust.
The location, at 18 degrees north latitude, suggests there is little near surface ice here, a suggestion strengtened by the elevation, about 64,000 feet above the “sea level” of Mars. At that altitude — twelve miles high and more than twice the height of Mount Everest — the Martian atmosphere is very very thin, making the persistent presence of water, even as a vapor, very difficult.
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 original image.
Cool image time! The picture to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here, was taken on July 8, 2023 by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). It shows the northernmost interior rim of the caldera of Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system.
This one picture provides another way to illustrate the monumental scale of much of Mars’ topography. From the top to the bottom this steep scarp descends about 5,900 feet, in a little more than two miles. Compare that to the trails that descend the Grand Canyon’s south rim, which drop about the same distance but do it in distances ranging from three to five times longer.
In other words, this cliff wall is steep. Finding a route for a trail either up or down would be difficult at best.
The red dot on the overview map to the right marks this location. Note that the crater in this northern edge of Olympus Mons’ caldera has its own name, Athena Patera, with patera indicating that scientists believe it was created by volcanic processes, not an impact.
The picture also shows evidence of an ancient landslide, marked by the raised debris on the left side of the cliff’s base. The material suggests a very large section from the cliff’s bottom third separated and slide down as a unit. The soft nature of the ground here also suggests that this slide occurred a long time ago, and has since been eroded and covered by Martian dust.
The location, at 18 degrees north latitude, suggests there is little near surface ice here, a suggestion strengtened by the elevation, about 64,000 feet above the “sea level” of Mars. At that altitude — twelve miles high and more than twice the height of Mount Everest — the Martian atmosphere is very very thin, making the persistent presence of water, even as a vapor, very difficult.
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.
5,900 feet.
A little over one mile 5,280 ft.
Jeff Wright: In mileage I was referring the horizontal distance.
I am continually taken aback by just how old features on Mars are. I fancy myself a bit of a geological hobbyist, and live in a part of the US that affords much to study, but Earthly processes seem to take place fast-forward compared to Mars and its slow-even-by-geological-standards transformations.