Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to MGS MOC Releases MOC2-316 to MOC2-319, 8 August 2002

Re: Inca City
BRFelix — (archived)

Interesting feature on "Inca City" -- http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/8_2002_releases/incacity/index.html -- which has strangely received very little attention from the anomalist community. This extraordinary formation has been imaged dozens -- if not hundreds -- of times by the MOC, and it has fascinated planetary scientists since it was first imaged by Mariner 9. Yet even though everyone knows about "The Face," the "Inca City" still seems obscure.

The discovery that the "Inca City" is on the margin of an enormous circular feature is kind of stunning. Traditionally all large circular formations on Mars are interpreted as impact craters, though out here on my limb, I have come to question that interpretation. In this case, even though the impact argument is offered, it doesn't seem to have convinced anyone. It does appear that this formation was once buried by the polar layered terrain. So. Could it have formed in that terrain?

There are other "Inca City" type formations in many places on Mars, though none that I know of are as large and as distinctive. Most of the others I've seen are in the centers of craters or in sheltered places on a plain, and they look like what might happen if mud were violently shaken and then suddenly petrified.

Much to ponder....

Cheers, B R Felix

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