Jakarta, CNNI Indonesia —
Mars aka presumably still volcanically active has volcano. This could be an indication of the existence of life on the Red Planet.
One of the big differences between Mars and Earth is what happens underground. Our planet remains tectonically and volcanically active. The proof is a series of earthquakes in Cianjur, Sukabumi, Tasikmalaya and Karangasem, leading up to the eruption of Mount Semeru.
Meanwhile, Mars has been a cold, geologically dead place for the past three billion years. At least that’s the observation from a distance.
However, an article published in Nature Astronomy (2022) challenges this common hypothesis. Through an essay titled “Geophysical Evidence for an Active Mantle Plume Under Elysium Planitia on Mars”, A. Broquet and JC Andrews-Hanna of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, USA, revealed that Mars is still “hot”.
The discovery is the result of orbital photographs, surface data and computer modeling of a low-lying region near the Martian equator known as Elysium Planitia. This location is also where NASA’s Mars InSight probe landed in 2018.
The researchers, cited by Time, analyzing footage of the Martian earthquake taken by InSight. They concluded that they all arise from a series of underground fissures called the Cerberus Fossae, which extend nearly 1,300km across the Martian surface.
This gives rise to what is known as mantle plumeswhich are lumpy masses of molten rock that rise to the base of the earth’s crust, triggering earthquakes, faults and volcanic eruptions.
“With activity plume In this just observed, Mars joins Venus and Earth like the other bodies of the inner solar system mantle plumes active right now,” said the researcher.
Computer modeling of the region shows that, far from being geologically dead, Elysium Planitia experienced a major volcanic eruption 200 million years ago.
“Previous research by our team has found evidence of the youngest volcanic eruption on Mars in Elysium Planitia. [Erupsi] it created a small explosion of volcanic ash 53,000 years ago, which in the context of geologic time is basically “just yesterday,” Andrews-Hanna said.
If Mars is geologically alive, this increases the likelihood that the planet is also biologically alive. What little water remains on the Red Planet has shrunk to polar ice and is believed to seep underground into invisible aquifers.
The heat generated by magma can keep water warm and liquid, providing a fertile medium for single-celled organisms that may have originally appeared when the planet still had oceans, seas, rivers, more than 3 billion years ago. Namely, when Mars had not yet lost most of its atmosphere and water into space.
“A plume under Elysium Planitia also demonstrates that surface volcanic flows and seismic activity are not isolated events, but part of a long-lived and actively sustainable regional system,” the team said in a statement.
‘With implications for the longevity and astrobiological potential of a subsurface habitable environment,’ concluded the research team.
(team/ar)
