Could Mars’ Extinct Volcanoes Reawaken?

Mars might not be as dead as it seems. Scientists recently discovered a dark spot in old orbiter images, revealing evidence of volcanic activity from not so long ago.

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Between 3 to 4 billion years ago, Mars bubbled and burst with volcanic activity. The planet’s stationary crust and lower surface gravity meant volcanoes could build themselves up to staggering heights, like Olympus Mons which stands at 26 kilometers at its peak, nearly three times higher than Mount Everest.

Smaller eruptions continued in some isolated pockets as recently as 3 million years ago, but today the planet seems a much quieter place. At least that’s what we thought, until scientists discovered volcanic activity that looks like it happened in the relatively recent past, and their findings could have major implications for the search for life on the red planet.

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Read More:

Volcanoes on Mars Could be Active, Raising Possibility that Planet was Recently Habitable
https://news.arizona.edu/story/volcanoes-mars-could-be-active-raising-possibility-planet-was-recently-habitable
The site of the recent eruption is about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from NASA's InSight lander, which has been studying seismic activity on Mars since 2018. Two Marsquakes, the Martian equivalent of earthquakes, were found to originate in the region around the Cerberus Fossae, and recent work has suggested the possibility that these could be due to the movement of magma deep underground.

Evidence of Active Volcanoes on Mars Raises Possibility of Recent Habitable Conditions – “Mars Isn’t Dead”
https://scitechdaily.com/evidence-of-active-volcanoes-on-mars-raises-possibility-of-recent-habitable-conditions-mars-isnt-dead/
Further investigation showed that the properties, composition and distribution of material match what would be expected for a pyroclastic eruption – an explosive eruption of magma driven by expanding gasses, not unlike the opening of a shaken can of soda.

Rumbles on Mars Raise Hopes of Underground Magma Flows
https://www.quantamagazine.org/rumbles-on-mars-raise-hopes-of-underground-magma-flows-20210201/
The recent studies of Mars have only highlighted the fact that we have a poor picture of what the insides of worlds are like. “We don’t know what the distribution of radioactive elements is in the inner solar system,” said Gregg. “We got nothing.”

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