Update on December 17, 2024: This Landsat image shows the Messak Settafet plateau in southwestern Libya. Congratulations to Jim Wright for being the first reader to identify the location, and to Nerissa-Cesarina Urbani for naming the plateau. Read more about the area in “Human Fingerprints on an Ancient Landscape.”
Every month on Earth Matters, we offer a puzzling satellite image. The November 2024 puzzler is shown above. Your challenge is to use the comments section to tell us where it is, what we are looking at, and why it is interesting.
How to answer. You can use a few words or several paragraphs. You might simply tell us the location, or you can dig deeper and offer details about what satellite and instrument produced the image, what spectral bands were used to create it, or what is compelling about some obscure feature. If you think something is interesting or noteworthy, tell us about it.
The prize. We cannot offer prize money or a trip on the International Space Station, but we can promise you credit and glory. Well, maybe just credit. Within a week after a puzzler image appears on this blog, we will post an annotated and captioned version as our Image of the Day. After we post the answer, we will acknowledge the first person to correctly identify the image at the bottom of this blog post. We also may recognize readers who offer the most interesting tidbits of information. Please include your preferred name or alias with your comment. If you work for or attend an institution that you would like to recognize, please mention that as well.
Recent winners. If you have won the puzzler in the past few months, or if you work in geospatial imaging, please hold your answer for at least a day to give less experienced readers a chance.
Releasing comments. Savvy readers have solved some puzzlers after a few minutes. To give more people a chance, we may wait 24 to 48 hours before posting comments. Good luck!
The imagery gives basaltic or lava flow structure in the top as a plateau with parallel drainage network. The Dendritic drainage pattern is visible in the lower part. Area is having road network, probably a tourist or mining site nearby and could be part of South West Australian or North Central American continent.
It is a part of Murzuq Basin, around N26-17′, E12-00′. Cretaceous carbonate layers dip southward at shallow angle, forming a broad cuesta topography. A number of white patches are of the karst depression, where carbonate rosks are dissolved due to the chemical reaction with water.
These are the White Mountains in New Hampshire and western Maine. It’s been very dry in New England this Fall. No rain in a long time. Kinda like Mars 🙂
Could be forest fires blowing smoke with a forestry service road downwind along the fire-line
I have no idea where this is, obviously an arid region like N Africa or Australia, maybe Asia? Roads were my clue it is not Mars. I experienced that reverse topography and thought the top part of the image was a weathered lava flow, but then realized its an escarpment. The contrast between the young and old dendritic drainage systems is cool, young in the top half, older below.
Thermal image of forest fire bordering an adjacent open (non-forested) area, with road and some buildings. Indications of streams with associated deltas feature.
Maybe around Cratère Siriko, Morocco?
Historical weathering reveal of ancient broad overland lava flow abutting a body of water? Shows fainter water erosion over the flow, while the erosion water courses are deeper..and older on lower half of the image. Terrestrial site as road or utilities show as straight lines. Some very arid corner of modern times.
N26.298060, E11.978429
Wadi al Hayaa District, Libya
This picture is long and brown color,this is a river,in the southern state.
The location is unpopulated so the town is unknown.
There are tributaries connecting to the river adding water to the main area.
There is no change and require review.
1st claim: This is either liquified earth or sand type substance either moved by some kind of force or energy and deposited there or it’s still moving like lava.
2)my first claim is most likely to be correct. My plan B is some kind of lava or molten minerals still moving and/or with a crust on top like welding slag and it could be an old movement which has stopped and cooled there
CFunk out
Cretaceous sandstone of Libya’s Messak Settafet plateau
It looks like this is an image of the surface of Mars. It’s remarkable to see the imprint of rivers joining together to form streams.
Sébastien (France)