Enhancements copyright (C) Marcia L. Peters, all rights reserved

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MOC Image	Viking  Context Image	Viking  Color  Context  Image
Resolution 2.79 m

Enhancements

This feature in the third MOC image immediately caught our eye.  It is a hill, severely marred by tooth marks. What would do this? This hill is approx. 195 m (600') high and 513m (1684') in diameter.

Greg Stockton comments:

"This photo is hot.  I challenge any geologist to explain this shot as a natural formation.  That is a sizable mountain, with a tremendous chunk carved out of the side.  Not only that, it's the way it's carved.  Very long, nearly vertical scoopaways, with different levels on the bottom.  Wind didn't do it.  Water action sure didn't do it.  Glacial action didn't do it.  I can't imagine any ground movement that could do it.  This is the hand of intelligence at work:  surface mining.

"It has a lot of interesting features.  For one thing, the perimeter of the original base is still visible as a slightly elevated ring.  Any natural erosion would have obliterated this feature.  I do see a long, straight feature that could be a road.  It leads away from the base toward the right.  It is an uncertain feature, though.  It seems to hit a hill near the edge of the picture.  If it goes through the hill, a tunnel is in order.  There is a ridge on the top of the picture which leads up, away from the mountain.  That could be a road on the very top of the ridge, with a possible building beside it.  Down inside the mined area are several promising candidates for structures.  I think there are buildings scattered all across the bottom.  Particularly eye grabbing is a potential edifice at the extreme upper left portion of the gouged out area.  This was a large operation, with respectable support buildings erected at various levelled areas in order to facilitate extraction of ore.

"Keep in mind that from an engineering standpoint, Mars' gravity is only about 1/3 that of Earth's.  Maneuvers which are technically impossible on Earth may be feasible on Mars.

"There are small impact craters scattered across the entire area, including the mined area and possible road.  Obviously it was a long time ago by human standards, yet quite recent from a geological viewpoint."

We enhanced further to observe the structures within the scoopaway area. This is certainly an unusual area.