The strange flows in Shalbatana Vallis on Mars
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on March 31, 2021, and shows a series of very distinct arrowhead-shaped sloping ridges interspersed with hollows flowing down from the southern cliff face of Shalbatana Vallis, one of the larger long meandering drainages flowing into the northern lowlands of Chryse Planitia and north of Valles Marineris.
This location is at 5 degrees north latitude, so nothing we see in the picture is likely glacial or evidence of ice.
So what are we looking at? My guess is that the parallel ridges show us a hint of the original slope of alluvial fill. In the past canyon’s south rim or cliff either did not exist, or was much smaller. Instead the ground mostly sloped gently downhill from the plateau to the canyon floor.
Scientists believe that in the far past catastrophic floods of water flowed through Shalbatana. If a massive flood of water off that rim came down that slope of alluvial fill, it could have pushed into that fill and created the hollows, washing the fill down into the canyon floor and leaving behind the ridges in between.
The overview maps below provide the geographical context.
The first map shows a wide view of this region. Shalbaltana Vallis is the smaller snaking canyon just north of Valles Marineris on its eastern end. The white box indicates the area covered by the second map.
The red box marks the location of today’s image.
What the image implies is that not only did those theorized catastrophic floods flow down the canyon, but there was a lot of liquid that flowed suddenly from the plateau above. I can’t imagine the scenario that would make that possible, but I am sure some scientist will figure it out.
Note two that back in 2009 scientists found evidence [pdf] in Shalbaltana of what they thought was sedimentary material and a shoreline that suggested a lake once existed inside the canyon. That location was far to the south and farther upstream that the image above, but it reinforces the possibility that a lot of liquid water was once flowing within and into this canyon.
There is still some uncertainty about all these theories. Both volcanic and glacial processes might have been involved. If fluvial the erosion could have been slow over a long time rather than catastrophic. We also do not yet have a good understanding of the past Martian climate. Nonetheless, this image tells us that something once happened here that produced very spectacular geography.
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.
Cool image time! The photo to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken by the high resolution camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) on March 31, 2021, and shows a series of very distinct arrowhead-shaped sloping ridges interspersed with hollows flowing down from the southern cliff face of Shalbatana Vallis, one of the larger long meandering drainages flowing into the northern lowlands of Chryse Planitia and north of Valles Marineris.
This location is at 5 degrees north latitude, so nothing we see in the picture is likely glacial or evidence of ice.
So what are we looking at? My guess is that the parallel ridges show us a hint of the original slope of alluvial fill. In the past canyon’s south rim or cliff either did not exist, or was much smaller. Instead the ground mostly sloped gently downhill from the plateau to the canyon floor.
Scientists believe that in the far past catastrophic floods of water flowed through Shalbatana. If a massive flood of water off that rim came down that slope of alluvial fill, it could have pushed into that fill and created the hollows, washing the fill down into the canyon floor and leaving behind the ridges in between.
The overview maps below provide the geographical context.
The first map shows a wide view of this region. Shalbaltana Vallis is the smaller snaking canyon just north of Valles Marineris on its eastern end. The white box indicates the area covered by the second map.
The red box marks the location of today’s image.
What the image implies is that not only did those theorized catastrophic floods flow down the canyon, but there was a lot of liquid that flowed suddenly from the plateau above. I can’t imagine the scenario that would make that possible, but I am sure some scientist will figure it out.
Note two that back in 2009 scientists found evidence [pdf] in Shalbaltana of what they thought was sedimentary material and a shoreline that suggested a lake once existed inside the canyon. That location was far to the south and farther upstream that the image above, but it reinforces the possibility that a lot of liquid water was once flowing within and into this canyon.
There is still some uncertainty about all these theories. Both volcanic and glacial processes might have been involved. If fluvial the erosion could have been slow over a long time rather than catastrophic. We also do not yet have a good understanding of the past Martian climate. Nonetheless, this image tells us that something once happened here that produced very spectacular geography.
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.
My initial view of this made me think the lines were very straight and not flows but growths.
This makes me wonder if crystals form on Mars as they do on Earth as shown in this Wiki article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Crystals
Do/would the conditions on Mars (low gravity, very small liquid water…et alia) promote the formation of very large crystals?