Volcanic vent on Mars
To understand today’s cool image we really should start from a distance and zoom in. The overview map to the right focuses in on the two southernmost giant volcanoes in the string of three that sit to the east of Mars’ biggest volcano, Olympus Mons, and to the west of the planet’s biggest canyon, Valles Marineris.
The black dots mark the locations of the many high resolution photos taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that I have featured previously on Behind the Black. Many are isolated openings with no related geological features. Others appear to be skylights into a more extensive lava tube, hinted at by either a continuing surface depression or a series of similar skylights.
The white dot marks the location of today’s cool image, about 350 miles south of Arsia Mons’ caldera.
Click here, here, and here for original images.
The first photo to the right is a mosaic made from three MRO context camera photos. The downhill grade flows to the south. This entire smooth surface is probably a lava flood plain, material that was discharged from Arsia Mons more than a billion years ago when the volcano was active. That the volcano was able to deposit this much lava 350 some odd miles from its caldera illustrates both how powerful the volcano was as well how different lava flows are in Mars’s weaker gravity. They can go farther, and more quickly before they freeze.
Winding through this volcanic plain are three meandering depressions, with the top two each beginning with a deeper sinkhole, as if some liquid, likely lava, had poured out of that deeper opening and as it flowed southward it carved the meandering hollows before disappearing underground again only to pop up later out from the next deep sink.
When the flow reached the southernmost and deepest pit it seems to have no longer flowed directly south in a line. Instead, if you look close you can see what looks like an flow spreading outward from that pit in a southerly direction, but in a wide dispersed manner.
The last picture to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on August 31, 2021 by MRO’s high resolution camera of that southernmost pit. The second image to the right is that same pit, brightened enough so that the details within the shadows can be seen. Based on this imagery, it appears that there are no openings or skylights into voids below, such as a lava tube.
Thus, the meandering depression in the mosaic indicate the existence of an underground lava tube, but the available information suggests it is mostly filled.
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:
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To understand today’s cool image we really should start from a distance and zoom in. The overview map to the right focuses in on the two southernmost giant volcanoes in the string of three that sit to the east of Mars’ biggest volcano, Olympus Mons, and to the west of the planet’s biggest canyon, Valles Marineris.
The black dots mark the locations of the many high resolution photos taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that I have featured previously on Behind the Black. Many are isolated openings with no related geological features. Others appear to be skylights into a more extensive lava tube, hinted at by either a continuing surface depression or a series of similar skylights.
The white dot marks the location of today’s cool image, about 350 miles south of Arsia Mons’ caldera.
Click here, here, and here for original images.
The first photo to the right is a mosaic made from three MRO context camera photos. The downhill grade flows to the south. This entire smooth surface is probably a lava flood plain, material that was discharged from Arsia Mons more than a billion years ago when the volcano was active. That the volcano was able to deposit this much lava 350 some odd miles from its caldera illustrates both how powerful the volcano was as well how different lava flows are in Mars’s weaker gravity. They can go farther, and more quickly before they freeze.
Winding through this volcanic plain are three meandering depressions, with the top two each beginning with a deeper sinkhole, as if some liquid, likely lava, had poured out of that deeper opening and as it flowed southward it carved the meandering hollows before disappearing underground again only to pop up later out from the next deep sink.
When the flow reached the southernmost and deepest pit it seems to have no longer flowed directly south in a line. Instead, if you look close you can see what looks like an flow spreading outward from that pit in a southerly direction, but in a wide dispersed manner.
The last picture to the right, rotated, cropped, and reduced to post here, was taken on August 31, 2021 by MRO’s high resolution camera of that southernmost pit. The second image to the right is that same pit, brightened enough so that the details within the shadows can be seen. Based on this imagery, it appears that there are no openings or skylights into voids below, such as a lava tube.
Thus, the meandering depression in the mosaic indicate the existence of an underground lava tube, but the available information suggests it is mostly filled.
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.
The different behavior in flow of Martian lava may also result in geometry of lava tubes that differ from earth ‘tunnels’. For example, the tubes may have width to height ratios that are dissimilar from terrestrial lava tubes. That may have implications for use of lava tubes as shelter during future exploration.
Greg the Geologist:
Curious for your take on the ” geometry of lava tubes ” vis-a-vis terrestrial ones. I have seen, and walked in, lava tubes in Hawai’i and the Northwest US. I have seen subsided volcanic flows in Hawai’i, and understand that lava is full of gas, and when cooling, releases that gas, so the flow subsides a bit.
It seems that with 0.3g and (let us assume) a comparable amount of gas in solution, the tubes would be much higher than Earthside ones, but maybe the same width?