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Zone 3
The nitrogen ocean appears to bubble up along the edge of the land ice creating a broiling look which pushes outward. The water ices are small like rubble nearest to land and grow into larger blocks further out.
At the edge of the land ice are craters which are being filled with nitrogen liquid from below as there is no sign of the fluid spilling over their edges. Eventually these craters will be completely covered and swallowed by the nitrogen fluid. The large icebergs appear to have drifted outward into deeper fluid. |
The difficult question for me is, "Are these large icebergs floating or are they grounded to bedrock below?" Its a question of buoyancy. Nitrogen and water ice are similar in density by nitrogen is a bit more dense so water ice floats but its not very buoyant. For Icebergs like this to protrude upward and out of the fluid nitrogen they would have to extend extremely deep into the fluid. The fluid is likely not as deep as it would need to be to support these massively high icebergs which means they are probably sitting on some form of bedrock.
If this is the case then they aren't floating in the nitrogen but there is some evidence that suggest they are and so the mystery remains. Small individual icebergs deeper in the ocean of nitrogen always appear to follow the low pressure troughs which strongly suggest they are floating around following the lower contour of the undulating cellular mounds which are bounded by these troughs.
Perhaps it's a combination, larger bergs are grounded while smaller bergs float.
If this is the case then they aren't floating in the nitrogen but there is some evidence that suggest they are and so the mystery remains. Small individual icebergs deeper in the ocean of nitrogen always appear to follow the low pressure troughs which strongly suggest they are floating around following the lower contour of the undulating cellular mounds which are bounded by these troughs.
Perhaps it's a combination, larger bergs are grounded while smaller bergs float.
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Zone 4
The mounds of undulating nitrogen material appears to flow in from the right and 3 large icebergs are colliding with more numerous small (but still very large) icebergs. These more angular ice block mountains are being mashed into a raised land ice beachfront which is being compressed and exhibits ripples and folds that's assuming everything is moving to the left.
The sharp angular ice is slightly lighter in color than the rippled ice indicating they are likely of differing ages. This beach of land ice is being pushed westward up onto the main land ice which has a very different textural look. |
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Zones 5 & 6
More evidence of the same process. Nitrogen fluid has corralled large mountain blocks of ice into a zone which is bending and twisting and folding the land ice. The nitrogen flow is migrating north and west. The largest icebergs are at the bottom, as we move north the icebergs become medium sized until they actually start to be ground down to smaller boulders at the very top. This demonstrates how bigger bergs interact with land by grinding down from large to medium size chunks, finally to be reduced from mountain sized to large boulders eventually ground into rubble. There is even a nitrogen lake trapped between the iceberg mountains and the rippled land ice (roughly center left of the image). |
All these conclusions are based on the concept, the fluid is driving the icebergs into the land causing a grinding effect wearing the icebergs into smaller and smaller pieces the nearer they are to the land. Another possible scenario is that the fluid is welling up from below and striping chunks off the land ice. Another scenario is, there's subsurface bedrock that is broken apart by the nitrogen fluid the deeper into the fluid the more buoyant force break the icebergs off the bedrock causing them to float to the surface or roll upward twisting and turning across the surface of the remaining bedrock while smaller fragments near the shoreline flake off the land ice.
I like this last scenario as it allows for the land ice edge material to slip under the nitrogen then while further out in the ocean they get worn apart into large blocks then break, pop to the surface with much of the red tholin dissolved off. They don't have to be floating in this scenario just buoyantly lightened and clustered near the land's edge where they broke apart. In essence they can still be in contact with bedrock yet still located near to where they originated while poking up through the nitrogen with their surfaces mostly washed clean of red tholin. The more dense nitrogen if migrating inland toward the land ice would tend to make the ice blocks light enough to roll and clump against the land ice.
I like this last scenario as it allows for the land ice edge material to slip under the nitrogen then while further out in the ocean they get worn apart into large blocks then break, pop to the surface with much of the red tholin dissolved off. They don't have to be floating in this scenario just buoyantly lightened and clustered near the land's edge where they broke apart. In essence they can still be in contact with bedrock yet still located near to where they originated while poking up through the nitrogen with their surfaces mostly washed clean of red tholin. The more dense nitrogen if migrating inland toward the land ice would tend to make the ice blocks light enough to roll and clump against the land ice.
