NEW! LOWEST RATES EVER -- SUPPORT THE SHOW AND ENJOY THE VERY BEST PREMIUM PARACAST EXPERIENCE! Welcome to The Paracast+, eight years young! For a low subscription fee, you can download the ad-free version of The Paracast and the exclusive, member-only, After The Paracast bonus podcast, featuring color commentary, exclusive interviews, the continuation of interviews that began on the main episode of The Paracast. We also offer lifetime memberships! Flash! Take advantage of our lowest rates ever! Act now! It's easier than ever to susbcribe! You can sign up right here!

Reply to thread

Message

Anomalous mounds on the King crater floor

What are these circular features? These mounds are found within a large pool of now-solidified impact melt covering the floor of King crater (5.0°N and 120.5°E). North is up, and sunlight is coming from the east, which is how we can tell at a glance that these are positive-relief constructs, and not negative-relief impact craters (compare with some of the obvious craters in the image to convince yourself that this is true). There are many such mounds on the King crater floor. They are often circular, but occur in groups with irregular outlines as well.
One interpretation of the mounds is that the King impact melt remained hot long enough after accumulating as a pond, and partially crusting over during cooling, to still "ooze" here and there through holes or cracks in the fresh crust. The soft melt quickly cooled after reaching the surface and built itself up vertically while spreading out laterally at each point where this happened ... think of pressing a board with holes in it on a layer of wet mud or toothpaste.
...from the LROC article.

<blockquote data-quote="trainedobserver" data-source="post: 144580" data-attributes="member: 2192"><a href="http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/382-Anomalous-mounds-on-the-King-crater-floor.html" target="_blank">Anomalous mounds on the King crater floor</a>&nbsp;<img src="http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/LROCiotw/M115522928LE_thumb.serendipityThumb.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />&nbsp;What are these circular features? These mounds are found within a large pool of now-solidified <a href="http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/368-Impact-melt-on-Klute-W-wall.html#extended" target="_blank">impact melt</a> covering the floor of King crater (5.0°N and 120.5°E). North is up, and sunlight is coming from the east, which is how we can tell at a glance that these are positive-relief constructs, and not negative-relief impact craters (compare with some of the obvious craters in the image to convince yourself that this is true). There are many such mounds on the King crater floor. They are often circular, but occur in groups with irregular outlines as well. One interpretation of the mounds is that the King impact melt remained hot long enough after accumulating as a pond, and partially crusting over during cooling, to still &quot;ooze&quot; here and there through holes or cracks in the fresh crust. The soft melt quickly cooled after reaching the surface and built itself up vertically while spreading out laterally at each point where this happened ... think of pressing a board with holes in it on a layer of wet mud or toothpaste....from the LROC article.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="trainedobserver, post: 144580, member: 2192"] [URL='http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/382-Anomalous-mounds-on-the-King-crater-floor.html']Anomalous mounds on the King crater floor[/URL] [IMG]http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/LROCiotw/M115522928LE_thumb.serendipityThumb.png[/IMG] What are these circular features? These mounds are found within a large pool of now-solidified [URL='http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/index.php?/archives/368-Impact-melt-on-Klute-W-wall.html#extended']impact melt[/URL] covering the floor of King crater (5.0°N and 120.5°E). North is up, and sunlight is coming from the east, which is how we can tell at a glance that these are positive-relief constructs, and not negative-relief impact craters (compare with some of the obvious craters in the image to convince yourself that this is true). There are many such mounds on the King crater floor. They are often circular, but occur in groups with irregular outlines as well. One interpretation of the mounds is that the King impact melt remained hot long enough after accumulating as a pond, and partially crusting over during cooling, to still "ooze" here and there through holes or cracks in the fresh crust. The soft melt quickly cooled after reaching the surface and built itself up vertically while spreading out laterally at each point where this happened ... think of pressing a board with holes in it on a layer of wet mud or toothpaste. ...from the LROC article. [/QUOTE]

Verification