An unusual deposit spotted in one of Mars鈥檚 biggest volcanic regions might be the result of an eruption that popped the surface of the planet. If this is the case, it would mean Mars is still volcanically active today.
鈥淢ost of Mars鈥檚 activity was very early on 鈥� the first billion years or so of planetary evolution was an intense period of tectonic and volcanic activity,鈥� says Jeffrey Andrews-Hanna at the University of Arizona. 鈥淭he last 3 billion years on Mars has really been a much quieter period.鈥�
The deposit, called the Cerberus Fossae mantling unit, is located in Mars鈥檚 Elysium Planitia region, which has three large volcanoes. It is estimated to be between 53,000 and 210,000 years old, making it the youngest volcanic feature yet discovered on the planet.
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Andrews-Hanna and his colleagues theorise that the deposit, a 17-kilometre-wide area of dust, could be the result of a volcanic eruption that probably extended 6 kilometres up and may have been triggered when a space rock hit the planet, creating a nearby crater called Zunil.
The deposit is round and symmetrical, which 鈥渓ooks exactly like what you鈥檇 expect to see when material鈥檚 been forcibly expelled from the fissure epicentre鈥�, says Andrews-Hanna. This indicates that the eruption was explosive, in contrast to most others in the region, where lava emerges in slow flows and later solidifies.
The explosive eruption may be evidence of water from nearby ice melting and then interacting with the magma, according to the researchers, who were due to present their findings at the now-cancelled 51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas. This process could have taken less than 5 minutes.
Because the crater near the deposit is also the youngest crater on Mars 鈥� at only 1 to 2.7 million years old 鈥� the impact that created it could have set off the eruption, the researchers say.
狈础厂础鈥檚 InSight lander touched down in this region in November 2018 and detected marsquakes a few months later, hinting that a long-term source of magma may still exist there.
This also raises the possibility for life on Mars, says Andrews-Hanna, because the interaction between magma and water can provide energy and chemical reactions. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 something that organisms just love,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is the type of environment where life could live today on Mars.鈥�
Though it is entirely possible that the deposit is a volcanic fragment, other mechanisms that we don鈥檛 yet know of could produce similar-looking features, says Petr Bro啪 at the Czech Academy of Sciences. 鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 be surprised if [Mars] is still volcanically active, but it would need some extraordinary evidence,鈥� he says.
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