Victoria Crater on Mars, WOW

[astroron]

Have a look at this image of Victoria Crater on Mars, it is so crisp:eyepop:
Check out the high resolution image:cool::cool::cool:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/MRO/multimedia/mro20091012a.html

[renormalised]

That is exceptional resolution. Some of those really small craters wouldn't be any larger than a person, some are most likely smaller:eyepop:

I'd love to get a multispectral analysis done on the crater. At that resolution it would be so easy to produce a geological map of the crater and have the relative rock types identified. The possibilities!!:D

Now all we need is for a geologist to actually be there and eyeball the rocks, and get a positive I.D. on them.

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

Yes, I am so fascinated by that feature on Mars.

A gallery of other great images at

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/technology/sci-tech/mars-in-high-resolution/20090813-ejjc.html

I made them all wallpapers on the PC.

Cheers

[Jen]

:eyepop: wow thats an awsome shot :thumbsup:

[stephenb]

Fantastic image, thanks for posting Ron.:thumbsup:

[TrevorW]

That is one M.F big hole

[Ric]

Awesome image, thanks for posting Ron.

[hulloleeds]

Not quite as good as it is in my scope, but it's a not a bad novice image.

[Baron von Richthofen]

It is not a crater but a depression, it was not caused by a high speed collision but by a slow impression of an unknown, that is the only thing that would cause this type of impression and it looks like it had water in it at some time

[renormalised]

Sorry, mate...it's a crater. That flow deposit you see in the bottom of the crater is caused by slumping. There's transverse dunes superimposed on top of the slump mounds.

There's an ejecta blanket surrounding the entire area of the impact...that's what Opportunity was driving over the top of. There's shocked quartz grains all over the place.

There are sinkholes on Mars, but I'm afraid that's not one of them.

[astroron]

This is a quote taken from the accompanying article:)

"The bright band separates bedrock from the material displaced by the impact that dug the crater"

Where do you get your information from:shrug:

[Baron von Richthofen]

Just look at edges and the impression, the only way you will get that form is by slow depression
push a golf ball into soft ground you will get the same look

[astroron]

This crater has been examined by the rover and if it was not an impact crater I am sure the scientist would have said so, unless they have some ulterior motive in keeping the information secret:shrug:

[Baron von Richthofen]

I think it will need a lot more research at ground zero before we know
But I am sticking to what I said

[astroron]

Ok.

[renormalised]

No no no no....sinkholes tend to form with steeped sided walls and are caused by dissolution of the underlying bedrock via seeping/flowing groundwater. They also occur mainly in areas of very porous and/or easily dissolvable rock (i.e carbonate rocks). It's what they call Karst topography. The underlying bedrock in this region of Mars is neither carbonate or porous....it's a mixture of non carbonate sediments and volcanics. Not only that, like I mentioned before, you have a shallow, bowl shaped crater surrounded by an ejecta blanket, a raised rim with overturned rock layers (which you don't get in karsts) and slumping caused by collapse of the crater wall along arcuate faults in the surrounding rock. That's also where those steep cliffs along the wall come from...the faulting in the rock and the subsequent slump of the rock walls.

[Baron von Richthofen]

Could be, defiantly not an impact

[renormalised]

It's an impact....I've just spelled out to you the characteristics of these things and you still don't seem to get it??. Mate, I'm a geologist....I think I should know a thing or two about these things:D

And before you say, yeah but you need to go there and find out....I've seen that many examples of either and crawled down inside one or two of them in my time, I think I should have an idea of what I'm talking about:D