European Probe Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), which is part of the ExoMars mission and has been successfully operating in the orbit of the red planet since 2016, took pictures near the south pole of Mars showing remarkable black formations, resembling flocks of running black spiders.
Black geysers
Of course, these are not real spiders. These striking black features form when the spring Sun illuminates layers of frozen carbon dioxide that formed during the Martian winter. The lower layers of ice melt and the released carbon dioxide seeps through the up to a meter thick upper layer of ice. The released carbon dioxide brings dark dust to the surface and jets out through cracks in the ice.
This creates bizarre looking black geysers and the ejected material falls back to the surface, where it creates dark spots, sometimes up to a kilometer in size. The same process creates spider-like structures in the ice and under the ice, where carbon dioxide with dark dust also enters.
Martian city of the Incas
The area captured by the TGO is in close proximity Angustus Labyrinthusnicknamed Inca City (City of the Incas). The “city” itself consists of geometrically arranged ridges, reminiscent of the ruins of Inca cities. Its history is a bit of a mystery – it is not clear how exactly it was created. It could be “petrified” sand dunes, or structures formed by ejected sand that came to the surface through cracks in the rocks. It could also be so-called eskers – formations that are created on Earth by the movements of glaciers.
The “walls” of this primeval city appear to be part of a large circular formation with a diameter of about 86 kilometers. Scientists believe that it is a large crater that was created by the impact of a space body. As a result of the crushing impact, which cracked the surrounding rocks and spilled lava into the surroundings, this wonderful Martian “city of the Incas” could also have been created.
