Tharsis – A Giant Volcano?
In an October 2010 Geological Society of America Special Paper Andrea Borgia and John E. Murray propose that the entire Tharsis Bulge, which extends some 7,000 kilometers on Mars, is actually a giant volcano spreading out on the Martian surface and that Olympus Mons, and the triplet of Arsia, Pavonis and Ascraeus Mons are secondary to this massive structure.
Although the Tharsis region of Mars exhibits a number of volcanic cones, this massive feature does not comprise only lava which flowed out on the surface from the interior. Structures this size are formed by processes which are not found in any Geology texts. The entire Tharsis Bulge is only a remnant of a much greater bulge raised by the tidal force of proto-Venus during many close encounters between the two within the last 6,000 years. This force on the semi-rigid Mars not only raised Tharsis, but also created a well documented global rift system, the most obvious feature of which is the Valles Marineris. The Tharsis rise was so high back in the Bronze and Iron ages, when Mars was close to the Earth, that it was called the ‘dog-faced star’. Forces within a planet cannot push such a large area upwards – what is it pushing against?
The tidal force of the more massive proto-Venus drew Mars into a teardrop shape and the Tharsis Bulge is the pointed portion which has yet to settle back down. Venus, which was essentially a roiling molten sphere of rock at that date, was also distorted but has now settled back to a spherical shape.
The Tibetan-Himalayan complex on the Earth was formed in exactly the same way as the Tharsis Bulge, by the tidal force of proto-Venus when it passed very close to the Earth about 6,000 years ago. Although geologists believe it was formed by the collision of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates 5 to 12 million years ago, they cannot explain the layer of still molten rock which underlies Tibet. Tectonic plate collisions cannot produce a 2600 square mile structure over 4000 meters high. This is Earth’s Tharsis Bulge.
Because proto-Venus was created by an enormous impact on Jupiter around 6,000 years ago it raged through the solar system crossing the orbits of the existing terrestrial planets, Mars and Earth. It was so hot when it passed very close to the Earth the first time, that it scorched a path from northern Africa all the way to Tibet, which is the most striking feature on the surface of the Earth, according to astronaut Jay Apt. It was at that date that the Sahara became a desert and the entire Middle East and central Asia were desiccated.
The argute might question how Mercury fits into this picture – It was the solid core of Mars until it exited through the Valles Marineris rift (check the size) and drifted into the inner solar system while, in keeping with the laws of physics, the outer shell and the remaining liquid core collapsed in on itself and drifted out to become the ‘planet’ Mars, which NASA has determined has no solid core. This is how the residue of the planetary encounters left the vicinity of the Earth, only 2,700 years ago.
Geologists, limited by their gradualism or uniformitarian paradigm, may scratch the surfaces of all the planets for milennia but will never discover the truth. The solar system we see today was recently shaped by cyclic planetary catastrophism.
