Volcanoes on Mars may Still be Active, InSight Reveals - The Cosmic Companion May 16, 2021
Marsquakes felt by NASA's InSight lander could reveal movement of magma beneath the surface of the Red Planet
The volcanoes of Mars could be active, suggesting life may - possibly - have survived beneath the surface of the Red Planet in recent times.
New observations of the Mars reveal evidence of volcanic eruptions on that world during the last 50,000 years. This remarkably short period of time (on geological or astronomical scales) could alter our views of the geology — and potential biology — of the Red Planet.
Three to four billion years before our time, volcanoes erupted across the surface of the Red Planet. Smaller, more localized, eruptions continued until three million years ago. But, little evidence was found suggesting that volcanoes on Mars remain geologically active today.
“Volcanic activity on Mars peaked during the Noachian and Hesperian periods but has continued since then in isolated locales. Elysium Planitia hosts numerous young, fissure-fed flood lavas with ages ranging from approximately 500 to 2.5 million years [ago],” researchers describe in a study published in the journal Icarus.
Read more: https://thecosmiccompanion.net/volcanoes-of-mars-may-still-be-active-insight-reveals
The next three weeks are full of incredible guests on Astronomy News with The Cosmic Companion!
May 18 (s4/e20): NASA’s Scott Lambros, Instrument Systems Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope, tells us about this remarkable observatory.
May 25 (s4/e21): The Interstellar probe – exploring space between the stars with Dr. Elena Provornikova from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
June 1 (s4/e22): Using computer modeling to peer inside the atmosphere of Saturn with Professor Sabine Stanley of Johns Hopkins University.
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