Once Mars was much more interesting. Today, there are violent dust storms and in some places the flow streams of liquid salt water, but billions of years ago, the planet could boast of giant volcanoes, a system of canyons and river valleys. Not so long ago scientists have found in red planet volcanoes, which were formed quite recently in geological terms. Remarkably, perhaps, they had exactly suitable for the prosperity of microbial life conditions.
The Martian mount Olympus — the largest volcano in the Solar system — in height is 22 km, and the basis of its more than 500 kilometers in diameter. She began to grow about 3 billion years ago, but some lava flows on its high slopes can be no more than 2 million years, judging by the lack of overlying impact craters. The craters that are formed due to asteroid impact, show how the old can be the surface of the body in our Solar system — the more craters, the older the surface. However, fresh lava from the volcano can cover the old craters, resetting the clock.
This is what happened with mount Olympus and a few of her neighbors. It is unlikely that they went out completely. Perhaps they’ll be able to squeeze out the lava in the future, although it will have to wait a few million years.
In search of small volcanoes
Are formed if the volcanoes on Mars? Where the young that have appeared recently? Previously, scientists noticed clusters of various small and apparently very young “cones” symmetrical hills with craters on the peaks, but their origin was controversial. They could be places of volcanic eruptions, however, and “mud volcanoes” formed by the ejection of mud from the ground, or “rootless cones” formed by the explosions of lava falling on wet or icy ground.
A study of Czech-German-American group of scientists under the leadership of Petr Broz has presented new convincing evidence that at least some of them are volcanoes. Broz and his team have studied the cones of Coprates Chasma, the deepest part of the Martian canyon system Valles Marynerys. This is far from the main volcanic provinces of Mars and suggests that magma erupted from the depths through the ancient cracks in the system of canyons.
Scientists firmly believe that this is the real volcanic cones, like volcanoes on Earth, known as the cinder cone and the cone of tufa. They confirm this in thin layers that are visible on the inner wall of a crater on HiRISE images, and other facts. Image resolution is enough to see that the cone consists of layers is exactly the same as the tuff cone on the Ground.
The analysis showed that the craters surrounding the area of age is 200-400 million years old — about that time on the Ground wandering giant amphibians and the first dinosaurs.
The cones had to be constructed explosive eruptions, the lava clots, ranging in size from a pea to a brick, reinforced gradually until it reached its final height. The surface of each cone needs to be “reinforced” because the clots reaching the ground was hot enough to fuse and to protect her. This may explain their fresh appearance, unlike mud volcanoes, which should be more vulnerable to erosion.
The findings of scientists interesting for many reasons. This young volcanism of Mars suggests that the planet still occur volcanic processes — and still are formed by volcanoes.
Astrobiological interest
While the team of scientists received information on the composition of only one of the cones, using the CRISM instrument on MRO. It revealed the presence of the mineral, opaline silica, and mineral sulphates, which suggests that the hot stones, before or after the eruption, interacted with Martian groundwater.
If so, even for a short period each volcano could be formed in a mixture of water, heat, and chemical energy to maintain microbial life like the one that inhabits hot springs on Earth. Given that the cones in this study, at least 200 million years, they are unlikely to support life today, but it would be a good place to search for fossilized microbes with minimal risk of contamination of the active ecosystem.
Young volcanoes of Mars could support life
Ilya Hel