Mean City: Darkness on the Edge of Forever

[George J. Haas]

Nepenthes Mensae is located near the equator in the eastern hemisphere of Mars. It is east of Isidis Planitia and southwest of the Elysium Planitia. Its Coordinates lie between 14° North and -0.45 ° South and 134° East and 99° West. The word Nepenthes is a Greek word, which means “without grief” or “sorrow”. It is a reference to a passage in Homer's Odyssey, in which a magical potion called "Nepenthes pharmakon" is given to Helen by an Egyptian queen to quell her sorrows with forgetfulness.

I was alerted to an interesting area of Nepenthes Mensae in April 2018 by an independent researcher that goes by the name of Mean Green. He posted the area labeled A, in figure 1 on his Facebook page with a link to the original ESA Mars Express image (H2081_0000_ND3). After down loading the image I noticed an arrangement of structures directly below his highlighted section that appeared to be a complex set of pyramidal structures and mounds that I have labeled B, in figure 1.


Figure I

Here is a crop of the set of pyramidal structures and mounds that I have titled Mean City (Figure 2).


Figure 2


In this image I have outlined the contours of the structure for clarification (Figure 3).


Figure 3

Note the pyramids and mounds.


Here is a link to the ESA image: LINK

GJH

[George J. Haas]

The pyramids and mounds observed at Nepenthes Mensae on Mars look a lot like the ruins we find throughout Mesoamerican cultures.

Looking at Caracol, which is an ancient Maya archaeological site that is located in what is now the Cayo District of Belize, we find a terrestrial analog.

When a LiDAR image the ruins found at Caracol are compared to the complex of formations observed at Nepenthes Mensae on Mars we find a common structural signature is clearly revealed (Figure 4).


Figure 4

GJH

[George J. Haas]

In this expansive view of Mean City we can see a polygonal mound formation is located towards the north eastern side of the main city (Labeled A in figure 5) and a pyramidal formation (Labeled B in figure 5) located towards the south west of the main city, near a double crater.


Figure 5


Here is a close-up of the polygonal mound (Figure 6). Note the internal keyhole geometry.



Figure 6

Here is a close-up of the pyramidal formation (Figure 7). Note the eastern side has partially collapsed.


Figure 7


GJH

[George J. Haas]

Here is a section of Mean City that I have titled Sector A. The formations, labeled A-E have been outlined for structural clarification.


Sector A
Detail, ESA H2081_0000_ND3 (2005)

Notice the three sided pyramidal structure (Labeled A), next to a crater. There is a second, larger three sided pyramid (Labeled D) that has two circular mounds above it (Labeled B & C). There is also a large triangular mound (Labeled E) located on the lower south-eastern side of Sector A.

In 2016 the MRO HiRISE spacecraft captured a CTX image (J04_046177_1871_XN_07N235W) of the area. A comparison of the 2005 ESA image with a 2016 MRO CTX image is presented in Figure 8.



Figure 8


Here is a comparison of the 2005 ESA image of Sector A with a 2016 MRO CTX image.



Sector A
Left: Detail, ESA H2081_0000_ND3 (2005)
Right: Detail, CTX J04_046177_1871_XN_07N235W (2016)


CTX Link

GJH

[George J. Haas]

Here is the central section of Mean City that I have titled Sector B. The formations, labeled A-D have been outlined for structural clarification.


Sector B
Detail, ESA H2081_0000_ND3 (2005)

Notice the large rectangular platform mound (Labeled A) is oriented in a east/west diagonal direction. Its interior is divided into two sections, with smaller, highly eroded formations running along its northwester side. Directly below the rectangular platform mound is a large three sided pyramid (Labeled B) that points directly south. To the east of the large three sided pyramid is a small square-shaped mound (Labeled C) and a larger rectangular mound (labeled D).


Here is a comparison of the 2005 ESA image with a 2016 MRO CTX image (J04_046177_1871_XN_07N235W).



Sector B
Left: Detail, ESA H2081_0000_ND3 (2005)
Right: Detail, CTX J04_046177_1871_XN_07N235W (2016)


GJH

[George J. Haas]

Here is a section of Mean City that I have titled Sector C. The formations, labeled A-E have been outlined for structural clarification.



Sector C
Detail, ESA H2081_0000_ND3 (2005)

Notice the thick rectangular mound (Labeled A) located at the top of the area and the long kite-shaped pyramid below it (Labeled B), which is oriented in a southwestern direction. On the eastern side of the kite-shaped pyramid is a triangular pyramid (Labeled C) oriented in the opposite direction, pointing towards the southeast. Directly below the triangular pyramid is a long rectangular, bar-shaped pyramidal structure (Labeled D) that is highly symmetrical. Directly below the bar-shaped pyramid is another triangular pyramid (Labeled E) that is oriented in the opposite direction of the triangular pyramid labeled E.

Here is a comparison of the 2005 ESA image with a 2016 MRO CTX image (J04_046177_1871_XN_07N235W).



Sector C
Left: Detail, ESA H2081_0000_ND3 (2005)
Right: Detail, CTX J04_046177_1871_XN_07N235W (2016)


GJH

[billsaunders]

Nice George! These features are extremely interesting. All the different geometric shapes side by side. It is hard to imagine these being formed by natural processes which, as we know, tend to make forms of similar appearance. I would like to see your posts with side by side images with and without the black outlines.

[George J. Haas]

Here is an updated analysis of the mounds and pyramids observed in the MRO CTX J04 image of Mean City.


Mean City
Detail MRO CTX J04

[George J. Haas]

I was on the "News segment" of Earth Ancients program on Saturday June 6, 2018 talking with Cliff Dunning about the discovery of Mean City.



Earth Ancients

GJH

[George J. Haas]

Here is an analytical analysis of the Kite-shaped structure that is located in Sector C of Mean City.


Kite structure
Left: Detail CTX J04_046177_1871_XN_07N235W (2016)
Right: Proposed contours (outlined)

Note: the red line follows the proposed contours of the structures original form.

GJH

[billsaunders]

Don't usually see that much symmetry in these structures.

[meangreen]

This is from a crop of J04_046177_1871_XN_07N235W ran through the SFSX application    ;-)

[George J. Haas]

Here is a star-shaped polygonal structure that is located above the Mean City complex, in the far northern-western region.


Star Burst structure.

Notice the star burst, bastion design.

GJH

[George J. Haas]

Here is a comparison of the Star Burst formation on Mars with a star-fort, built in 1752 by the French in Canada, known as Fort Cumberland.


Comparison of Star Burst & Fort Cumberland

GJH

[billsaunders]

Very interesting structure. Kind of reminds me of the one we called "the key" in Cydonia in that there is a lot of varying topography. Ridges going in different directions, highly reflective upper right (north east?) lots going on! I saw a number of half images right off the bat.