What do you think the unusual plumes on Mars are?

[FrednJean]

Electromagnetic anomally over a dust devil

[gacorbin@shaw.ca]

I haven't hear of any volcanic activity or wind storms that could put a plume as high as this one. Has anyone thought of the possibility of a major impact be asteroid or ?

[dark]

A nuclear blast that wiped out cabal colony and to send a message to cabalist.

[sjb123]

Clearly it is what HG Wells predicted in War of the Worlds:

"This jet of fire had become invisible about a quarter past twelve. He compared it to a colossal puff of flame suddenly and violently squirted out of the planet, "as flaming gases rushed out of a gun."" - Chapter 1.

The War is upon us....

[ac3]

A nuclear blast that wiped out cabal colony and to send a message to cabalist.

yep, the 'breakaway civilization' got broke, by someone with a prior claim to the real estate in question...

[Science-eagle]

Volcanic plumes. The height is reasonable given the thin Martian atmosphere.
Simulations indicate dust drops out below top of plume leaving gases which
condense and freeze due to rapid expansion.

[dilleyj]

Don't know why this is so mysterious. It's likely caused by very large dust storm. Thus it is either very fine dust particles or ice particles from the surface or both. Mars' gravity is less than Earth's, so particles will go higher. Think about how long volcanic ash stays at high altitudes on Earth

[Bennett]

It can't be a volcano because Mars hasn't had an active core for thousands of years the most active volcano erupted more than a few centuries ago

[sytheblackwolfe]

It's too early to be the Cabal - we haven't found the Traveler yet. I suspect instead it's the Reaper invasion force gearing up for their overwhelming invasion of Earth. Where's Commander Shepard when you need him/her?

[Morid]

I am actually surprised no one has suggested wormsign yet. Shame on you all.

[mdgabriel]

If it was meteorite impact or marsquakes (or even alien construction!) or the like, one of the probes on Mars should have recorded seismic activity. Has anyone checked that against the time the images were recorded?

My guess is it's Martians going on holiday...

[Guest]

My guess is out gassing of probably water due to meteor impact. Water in our atmosphere would behave similarly if introdoced at 125,000 ft.

[TheUniverseIsAwesome]

I'm going with a "volcanic" geyser on this one. Since it appears that these plumes happen only near the poles (at least that's what I've read), I'm betting that large amounts of liquid "water" may still exist in these areas. Also given that the terrain on Mars resembles ours on Earth, plate tectonic activity may still be somewhat active on the red planet

[kellogg]

Hi, I'm new here.

Has anyone found pictures of what the terrain looks like under the plume?

Thanks,

Scott Kellogg

[Science-eagle]

Volcanic eruptions can be separated by many thousands of years. Whats more because of the low gravity on Mars it is thought that magma chambers below Martian volcanoes penetrate far more deeply than those on Earth and may be more powerful. On a geological timescale Mars cannot be considered volcanically dead. As for evidence of that, we are possibly looking at it!

[Allegro con fuoco]

"Cryo" volcanism, what else ?

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space ... est_images

[embram]

That doesn't look like a plume, that looks like clouds. They aren't sticking out beyond the limb of the planet; they're visible beyond the terminator (the line between the lit and the unlit portions of the planet) above the unlit portion, which is dark. Because from that area the sun is right on the horizon, clouds just a few miles above the surface can be lit for hundreds of miles beyond the terminator.

[dmullins@lcogt.net]

Has anyone been able to correlate these events with known features on the planet surface For instance, is there a known volcano in that area Or, there was no feature there but now there is a large crater

On a side note, a meteorite impact could cause such a cloud and it's persistance in a confined place would be perfectly normal considering Mars' thin atmosphere. At 200 kilometers, there could be no winds at all to disperse it.

[NoneGiven]

This is very embarrassing for Mars, let the planet fart in peace. `Sigh

[sonny]

The first picture taken by Mariner 4 shows a similar plume above the limb.
Experiments were made at JPL using a spare Mariner 4 spacecraft.
The purpose was to determine whether a glint from the spacecraft could have caused
the effect or artifact.
I don't know if any explanation for the effect was associated with the spacecraft itself.
The plume was estimated to have a height of 200K ft above the limb.

[[} Chris {]]

Curiosity doing donuts.

[leenadominic]

The answer is the APOD image of 03-Mar-2015, dust devils

[Visitor]

Why, it's a coriolis storm, of course Be sure to keep an eye for any 'thopters flying out near the top!

[TheSylphOfBlood]

It's water vapour being ejected from deep in Mars . .hence the foggy Venus like cloud surrounding the planet

Thats just light reflecting on the atmosphere...
Earth has the same halo...

[Guest]

The answer is the APOD image of 03-Mar-2015, dust devils

I don't think so, that picture was from 2012, and the plume lasted for days, not just the few minutes any kind of tornado would.