November 6, 2020
Electricity “grips”.
Volcanoes on Earth are said to form when tectonic plates move over upwelling magma plumes. Conventional theories state that rising magma naturally erupts from the weakest fractures in the plates, building up lava deposits and creating steep-sided mountains. As discussed in a previous Picture of the Day, it would be a good theory, except for its problems.
No tectonic plate boundaries exist on Mars (or on Earth!). That fact leaves planetary scientists speculating about how Martian volcanoes could have belched molten rock over several thousand square kilometers. The most familiar Martian “volcanic” mount is probably Olympus Mons, said to be the largest volcano in the Solar System.
Another, less well-known, giant “volcano” on Mars is Elysium Mons. Using data provided by spectrographic equipment onboard the Mars Odyssey satellite, along with high resolution images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, areologists conclude that Elysium Mons is younger than the Tharsis Montes complex, the site of Olympus Mons.
Elysium Mons rises up to 16 kilometers and is located near the landing site of the Mars Science Laboratory, otherwise known as “Curiosity”, currently rolling through Gale Crater on the edge of the vast northern plains. Gale crater was selected for Curiosity’s landing site because of a central formation known as Aeolis Mons (“Mount Sharp”), which appears to be a layered deposit over 5500 meters high that was subsequently eroded by wind.
Information provided by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicates to Electric Universe advocates that those ideas about lava flows should be permanently discounted. The common practice of using Earth geology to explain Martian areology causes researchers to misconstrue what they see when they examine data about Mars and its surface features.
In previous Picture of the Day articles, it was pointed out that the shapes of the mountainous escarpments, and the surrounding topography, indicate that they could have been made by planetary-scale plasma discharges. The force of the electric current raised giant mounds and carved out their distinctive calderas.
When an electric discharge encounters a solid body, like a planet, the current pulls charged material from where it makes contact. This is due to electrodynamic forces acting on magnetic materials in the planet’s regolith. Neutral dust and stones are also pulled along with the ionized particles. Craters formed by electric arcs are circular because electromagnetic forces cause electric arcs to maintain right angles with the surface. Rather than impacting the surface, electric arcs are stimulated by charged “leader strokes” that descend from above, attracting oppositely charged secondary strokes.
Since two or more filaments rotate around arc axes, they can behave like drills, excavating steep side walls and “pinching” rolled rims. Often, filaments will leave behind a central peak. Minerals in the craters will be electrically heated, scorched, and melted. There will be a lack of blast debris, such as from meteor strikes, because such debris is lifted out of the environment by electromagnetism and accelerated away. Another aspect of crater morphology on Mars is that smaller craters are on the rims of most large to medium craters.
An electrical interpretation directly explains the nature of Martian topography. Ionic winds lift material and carry it along in the direction of the charge flow. Where discharge channels bifurcate, branches tend to remain parallel to each other and may rejoin.
A positively charged surface will be melted, while forces within the arcs might cause the surface to form “lightning blisters” called fulgamites. Elysium Mons demonstrates the results of such a discharge: its caldera is circular, with chains of craters extending into the discharge zone. That effect is clearly seen in the image at the top of the page. It is important to remember that the large channel seen in the image is not flowing out of the caldera but is flowing in. It is also a chain of craters and not the remains of a lava flow.
Stephen Smith
