The Martian surface has shown many signs that indicate that the Red Planet was once tectonically active. The activity occurring beneath the surface was the reason behind the formation of valleys and trenches on the planet.
Well, most of it happened billions of years ago, and now Mars is believed to largely inactive. However, new research suggests otherwise, by presenting evidence of volcanic activity on the Red Planet in the last 50,000 years.
Young seismic activity
Scientists from the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Planetary Science Institute studied the data provided by Mars orbiters and found a new volcanic deposit in the Cerberus Fossae system in the Elysium Planitia region. The team believes this deposit is fairly younger than the previously found deposits.
“When we first noticed this deposit, we knew it was something special,” said study co-author Jeff Andrews-Hanna. “The deposit was unlike anything else found in the region, or indeed on all of Mars, and more closely resembled features created by older volcanic eruptions on the moon and Mercury.”
The composition of the material hints that it was formed fairly recently when magma erupted from the Martian surface when the gasses below expanded. It would have resulted in a dramatic event, sending ash flying around six miles in the sky.
“This may be the youngest volcanic deposit yet documented on Mars,” said lead study author David Horvath. “If we were to compress Mars’ geologic history into a single day, this would have occurred in the very last second.”
Is Mars still active?
The newly-discovered deposit is located around 1,000 miles from NASA’s InSight lander. The lander leverages its seismometer to study marsquakes and has found that two seismic activities from the Cerberus Fossae area.
With the new evidence, there’s a possibility that Mars could still have seismic activity happening beneath the surface that is yet to be measured.
“The young age of this deposit absolutely raises the possibility that there could still be volcanic activity on Mars, and it is intriguing that recent marsquakes detected by the InSight mission are sourced from the Cerberus Fossae,” Horvath said.
