Bill McKinnon released this image the significance of which I've overlooked for far too long. I've changed the red lines some but that's relatively insignificant compared to the elevation information.
The darker the area the lower it is conversely lighter areas have higher elevations. This image reinforces some observation I made previously. Viking Terra's northern edge is bright white (highest) while the southern edge is darker (lowest). The lowest area of Viking Terra has a fluid looking outline with tholin sliding down the edge of the bulge southward. Piri Planitia is a basin which is an extension of the bulge that is Viking Terra. |
This is a crazy set of outlines which I originally created months ago. I have just added two more circles (red & yellow) that are identifying the central point of the spider and a large area that has rings that look like arched or curved bubbles creating the ring pattern. I'm calling this area Melting Ice Cream.
In the middle of this series of raised ringed bubbles is a lower collapsed area that looks like melting ice cream. As the ice cream drupes from top to bottom it becomes harder with sharp crystalline ridges dotted with vent holes that are creating a fracture line running horizontally towards Sleipnir Fossa. Sleipnir Fossa is a NS fracture extending to the heart of the spider. The way these two features align suggest a story to me. |
In this colored elevation map hues of blue and purple are low areas while reds and yellows are high areas.
Notice how you not only see the north edge of Viking Terra as raised in red/orange but while migrating south, the area turns yellow and green flowing into a really dark green. The orange raised area is also where the largest deposits of methane snow exist it was the snow that first alerted me to this area being a bulge. The darkened green area has a fluid looking outline. This dark color is a representation of height not a reflection of the red tholin on the surface even though it matches the red tholin's runny footprint exactly. This distinct runny fluid outline migrates directly into the basin that is Piri Planitia. For me this strengthens two concepts, Piri Planitia is a sunken basin which is an inverted land feature extension of Viking Terra which is a bulging land mass that is pushed upward by subsurface pressures. |
To the left is a cut out section of the above elevation map. I want to point out how there is a red orange elevation band that runs from the north pole down to the south. In some areas it may be faint but it is present This whole ridge line is a compression zone. Follow the orange elevated ridge from top to bottom in this cut out. It breaks up in regions but then rejoins always following the NS flow. It is interrupted in the center by an impact crater (to the left) It butts up against SP and is in fact created by SP as it pushes the land ice westward. The bulge at Viking Terra has a white arrow coming in the image from the lower right. The terrain at the horizontal fractures is orange or elevated. Again down in this area the elevated compression ridge is interrupted by a crater called Elliot Along the southern area where there are peaks capped with methane snow the orange color (indicating elevated terrain) is mottled but still visible. The 3 white arrows are pointing to the orange hued ridge. |
These are compression ridges or mountains on Earth also known as fold mountains. These features are created when two crustal plates press against each other folding the silicate rock.
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These are compression ridges on Pluto. NASA scientists say compression features don't exist on Pluto only expansion cracks or fractures proving their theory of a hot core and ocean.
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