Volcanic Constructions Discovered on Mars

Researchers from the Planetary Science Institute in Tuscon, Arizona, have spotted a huge circular basin on the surface of Mars, which went unrecognized until now.

The astronomers previously assumed that the basin on the Red Planet was formed by a crater. The researchers examined the topographic data from NASA's Mars Odyssey, the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft and came to the conclusion that the basin was the remains of a very old volcanic eruption.

This research was led by Joseph R. Michalski, Senior Scientist at the Planetary Science Institute.

"On Mars, young volcanoes have a very distinctive appearance that allows us to identify them," Michalski said in a news release. "The long-standing question has been what ancient volcanoes on Mars look like. Perhaps they look like this one."

This basin is named Eden Patera and is said to be a volcanic caldera, which is formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption and appears like a crater.

The astronomers also hint towards the eruption of magma consisting of gas from the thin crust of Mars' surface, spreading all its content over a large area.

The surface is likely to sink further after the depression is caused with the eruption of such materials.

"This highly explosive type of eruption is a game-changer, spewing many times more ash and other material than typical, younger Martian volcanoes," Bleacher said. "During these types of eruptions on Earth, the debris may spread so far through the atmosphere and remain so long that it alters the global temperature for years."

Previous examinations of Mars' surface did not unveil the presence of any such volcanoes. On analyzing this particular crater in Mars' Arabia Terra region very closely, Michalski found minute differences in the basin like it lacked the rim that crater impacted basins have. The researcher also found that there were no ejecta particles found around the basin. These particles consist of molten rocks and eject in the area, which is hit by the crater.

With the help of co-author Jacob E Bleacher, a volcano specialist from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and the above observations, Michalski pointed towards the presence of volcanism on the Red Planet. More basins were discovered close to the Eden Patera basin, which may have once been super volcanoes.

"If just a handful of volcanoes like these were once active, they could have had a major impact on the evolution of Mars," Bleacher stated.

Similar eruptions took place in Yellowstone National Park in the western United States, Lake Toba in Indonesia and Lake Taupo in New Zealand in the past.

The following study has been published in the October 3 edition of the Nature Journal.