Planet Four Talk

Lava/water or other flow?

  • Peek by Peek

    I'm a bit intrigued by this image and what looks like a rather sharp ridge with very light material on the left/west side, which contrasts sharply with the dark and very smooth material next to it. Is that smooth area a sign of some ancient flow of lava, or water, or something similar?

    Posted

  • mschwamb by mschwamb scientist, translator

    Hi Peek,

    No water flowing here likely in a long time if at all. But there is a lot of aeolian (wind-driven) erosion and erosion due to the trapped carbon dioxide underneath the ice cap in the Spring.. The light really tan color, we tend to think is a bit of carbon dioxide frost. The last remnant bits of ice from the mostly gone carbon dioxide ice sheet. That would be my guess here, that there's some frost clinging to a small scarp or some channel.

    Cheers,

    ~Meg

    Posted

  • Peek by Peek in response to mschwamb's comment.

    Hi Meg, and thanks for the reply,

    If I understood you correctly, you are saying that the darker smooth area was created by erosion from CO2 gas trapped under the ice cap. Sounds pretty cool, would never have guessed that. 😃

    I realised, as I was reading your reply, that this feature might not be a ridge or scarp at all. Like you said, it can of course be a channel of some kind. And frost seems reasonable.

    Thanks

    Posted

  • mschwamb by mschwamb scientist, translator in response to Peek's comment.

    Hi Peek,

    Well I don't think that specific feature wasn't created by erosion from trapped CO2 gas, but the channels dubbed spiders, lace, etc are. You can learn more here.

    I'm thinking more wind erosion for this feature, but erosion's not my specifically, so a bit of some speculation on my part.

    Cheers,

    ~Meg

    Posted