Ancient Small Martian Island - If Only There Was Flowing Water!
Ancient Small Martian Island - Mars Odyssey THEMIS Image (19-meter)
Ancient Small Martian Island - EVS Map (19-meter)
What if the surface of Mars could be flooded to a depth of 20-meter? There would be islands where hills stand today. One of these islands would be this unnamed small island located in Ares Valles (16-lat - 30.4W lon). It would look like a barrier island, a 2-meter above water sand spit, shaped by tides and wind.
This is my first extraterrestrial island project. It took about 1-hour to complete. The circles scattered about are meteor plunks, most probably the large one's ejecta. The link to the Mars Odyssey website gives the curious reader loads of information about the area and the dry island features.
Perhaps if we pray for rain, Martian rain, and an increase in temperature, the seas will flow once again and this small island will live once more.
Enjoy!
Labels: EVS, Global Mapper, Mars Odyssey THEMIS, Martian Island
The feature in question is a pendant bar that is appended to the lee side of a crater. It was likely deposited by catastrophic flooding down Ares Valles. Look for many analogous landforms (minus the crater) on the Columbia Plateau in eastern Washington where they were created by catastrophic flooding in the late Pleistocene.
Posted by
Anonymous |
12/06/2007 05:33:00 PM
Thank you for the excellent clarification. An ancient island by any other name is still an ancient island.
Posted by
Mr Minton |
12/06/2007 09:18:00 PM