FREE TAPATALK APP

MaGZ · 12th August 2012, 01:13 AM

Gale Crater and Mount Sharp

Can anyone here explain why there is a mountain in the center of crater? What are the prevailing theories to explain this?

I found this page:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia15292.html

MaGZ · 12th August 2012, 01:23 AM

I read on Wikipedia, Mount Sharp was formed by sedimentary layers. (from an ancient ocean floor?) It appears to be 2/3 the height of Mt. Everest.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms...5292-Fig2.html

Cylinder · 12th August 2012, 01:55 AM

I think the best explaination so far is a central uplift inside the original crater and the erosion of crater rim materials bringing sedimemnts into the crater to be layed down as the flanks.

steve s · 12th August 2012, 07:56 AM

It's a common feature in large craters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_crater

Scroll down to Modification and Collapse.

Steve S

annnnoid · 12th August 2012, 08:25 PM

Gotta think outside the box dude. Ever heard of the quantidrolmons? No ?….they’re rather large beings that occupy interstellar space. Besides farting out interesting gas-cloud formations (which nasa dutifully photographs with Hubble) they pass their time playing large-scale pool. They rack up a triangle of suitably sized planetoid thingy’s and whack them around the galaxy. Once in a while, one goes astray. Mars. The shape in the picture is simply the indent made by the end of the cue (Berf Gooner…the quantidrolmon responsible for whacking Mars into it’s current orbit a few billion years back, had a cue with a somewhat damaged end).

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence…you say!!! We have Mars (where else could it have come from?). We have this blatant geographic feature (an obvious pool-cue indentation). And we have innumerable gas clouds (quantidrolmon written all over them).

As for the quantidrolmon’s themselves? String theory and MWI…of course.

ETA: Anyone who takes this seriously will be assaulted with a live rubber chicken until sensible. This is, after all, the SMT forum.

elgarak · 13th August 2012, 03:14 AM

Side note: The official name given by the IAS for the structure is "Aeolis Mons". Then again, this is by the organization that allowed a weird-ass definition for "planet" such that Pluto isn't one, so what do they know...

dafydd · 13th August 2012, 03:24 AM

That's obviously the place where the Martians used to play giant games of ring toss.

sphenisc · 13th August 2012, 04:11 AM

I think Gale Crater's just had a wardrobe malfunction.

Ocelot · 13th August 2012, 04:47 AM

First thing that occurred to me was this http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-fr...-image22031475

GodMark2 · 13th August 2012, 07:31 PM

I was thinking http://media.efluids.com/galleries/i...ial?medium=529

Same forces at work, only with a less viscous medium.

rikzilla · 13th August 2012, 09:15 PM

I saw this explained once in relation to a large crater on the Moon. When an impactor of enough mass comes in it compacts and compresses rock most at the center of the impact, once the impactor has obliterated itself and a bunch of other stuff the rock under ground zero rebounds and tada...mountain in the center of the new crater.

-z

amensae · 13th August 2012, 10:53 PM

Originally Posted by elgarak

Then again, this is by the organization that allowed a weird-ass definition for "planet" such that Pluto isn't one, so what do they know...

Non sequitur par excellence.

GeneMachine · 14th August 2012, 05:23 AM

Originally Posted by elgarak

Side note: The official name given by the IAS for the structure is "Aeolis Mons". Then again, this is by the organization that allowed a weird-ass definition for "planet" such that Pluto isn't one, so what do they know...

You are aware that Martian geography generally gets named in Latin? The larger region is named Aeolis planum - the plateau of Aeolia, after an ancient region in Anatolia. The mountain, therefore, is quite logically named Aeolis mons - the Aeolic mountain.

12th August 2012, 01:13 AM	#1
MaGZ Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 6,340	Gale Crater and Mount Sharp Gale Crater and Mount Sharp Can anyone here explain why there is a mountain in the center of crater? What are the prevailing theories to explain this? I found this page: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms.../pia15292.html
MaGZ Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 6,340

12th August 2012, 01:23 AM	#2
MaGZ Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 6,340	I read on Wikipedia, Mount Sharp was formed by sedimentary layers. (from an ancient ocean floor?) It appears to be 2/3 the height of Mt. Everest. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ms...5292-Fig2.html
MaGZ Philosopher Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 6,340

12th August 2012, 01:55 AM	#3
Cylinder Illuminator Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Arkansas Posts: 3,932	I think the best explaination so far is a central uplift inside the original crater and the erosion of crater rim materials bringing sedimemnts into the crater to be layed down as the flanks.
	__________________ If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed ; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than live as slaves. - Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm

12th August 2012, 07:56 AM	#4
steve s Illuminator Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 3,703	It's a common feature in large craters. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_crater Scroll down to Modification and Collapse. Steve S
steve s Illuminator Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 3,703	__________________ "Nature abhors a moron." -- H. L. Mencken

12th August 2012, 08:25 PM	#5
annnnoid Muse Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: canada Posts: 727	Gotta think outside the box dude. Ever heard of the quantidrolmons? No ?….they’re rather large beings that occupy interstellar space. Besides farting out interesting gas-cloud formations (which nasa dutifully photographs with Hubble) they pass their time playing large-scale pool. They rack up a triangle of suitably sized planetoid thingy’s and whack them around the galaxy. Once in a while, one goes astray. Mars. The shape in the picture is simply the indent made by the end of the cue (Berf Gooner…the quantidrolmon responsible for whacking Mars into it’s current orbit a few billion years back, had a cue with a somewhat damaged end). Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence…you say!!! We have Mars (where else could it have come from?). We have this blatant geographic feature (an obvious pool-cue indentation). And we have innumerable gas clouds (quantidrolmon written all over them). As for the quantidrolmon’s themselves? String theory and MWI…of course. ETA: Anyone who takes this seriously will be assaulted with a live rubber chicken until sensible. This is, after all, the SMT forum.
	__________________ Sorry I am. Have let myself slide again. Obviously a change is necessary. Will have to make this happen.

13th August 2012, 03:14 AM	#6
elgarak Graduate Poster Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: No matter where I go, there I am Posts: 1,868	Side note: The official name given by the IAS for the structure is "Aeolis Mons". Then again, this is by the organization that allowed a weird-ass definition for "planet" such that Pluto isn't one, so what do they know...

13th August 2012, 03:24 AM	#7
dafydd Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Belgium (Flatland) Posts: 31,680	That's obviously the place where the Martians used to play giant games of ring toss.
	__________________ Yesterday upon the stairs I met a man who wasn't there He wasn't there again today I wish that he would go away.

13th August 2012, 04:11 AM	#8
sphenisc Illuminator Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 3,751	I think Gale Crater's just had a wardrobe malfunction.
sphenisc Illuminator Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 3,751

13th August 2012, 04:47 AM	#9
Ocelot Illuminator Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London Posts: 3,016	First thing that occurred to me was this http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-fr...-image22031475
	__________________ EDL = English Disco Lovers

13th August 2012, 07:31 PM	#10
GodMark2 Graduate Poster Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Oregon, USA Posts: 1,050	I was thinking http://media.efluids.com/galleries/i...ial?medium=529 Same forces at work, only with a less viscous medium.
	__________________ Knowing that we do not know, it does not necessarily follow that we can not know.

13th August 2012, 09:15 PM	#11
rikzilla Ninja wave: Atomic fire-breath ninja Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 5,001	I saw this explained once in relation to a large crater on the Moon. When an impactor of enough mass comes in it compacts and compresses rock most at the center of the impact, once the impactor has obliterated itself and a bunch of other stuff the rock under ground zero rebounds and tada...mountain in the center of the new crater. -z
	__________________ "You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon." -Chancellor Gorkon "inside Mr .Skinny lives a big man" -pillory (18 Jan 2007)

13th August 2012, 10:53 PM	#12
amensae Suspended Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Australia Posts: 223	Originally Posted by elgarak Then again, this is by the organization that allowed a weird-ass definition for "planet" such that Pluto isn't one, so what do they know... Non sequitur par excellence.

14th August 2012, 05:23 AM	#13
GeneMachine Critical Thinker Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Bavaria Posts: 332	Originally Posted by elgarak Side note: The official name given by the IAS for the structure is "Aeolis Mons". Then again, this is by the organization that allowed a weird-ass definition for "planet" such that Pluto isn't one, so what do they know... You are aware that Martian geography generally gets named in Latin? The larger region is named Aeolis planum - the plateau of Aeolia, after an ancient region in Anatolia. The mountain, therefore, is quite logically named Aeolis mons - the Aeolic mountain.