Mysterious structures hidden beneath the surface of Mars discovered: ScienceAlert

A team of scientists has presented a new gravity map of Mars At the Europlanet Science Conference 2024. The map shows dense, large-scale structures beneath Mars’ long-vanished ocean and that mantle processes are affecting Mount Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System.

The new map and analysis incorporates data from multiple missions, including NASA’s InSIGHT (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy, and Heat Transfer) mission. It also uses data from small deviations of satellites as they orbit Mars.

A paper titled “Mars’ global gravitational field reveals an active interior” will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal JGR: Planets. The lead author is Bart Root of Delft University of Technology. Some of the findings contradict an important concept in geology.

Geologists work with a concept called flexural equilibrium. It describes how the planet’s solid outer layer responds to large-scale loading and unloading. This layer is called the lithosphere and consists of the crust and the upper part of the mantle.

When something heavy weighs down the lithosphere, it responds by sinking. On Earth, Greenland is a good example of this, where a massive ice sheet is pushing down on it. As its ice sheets melt due to global warming, Greenland will rise.

This downward bending often causes an uplift of the surrounding area, although the effect is small. The greater the load, the more pronounced the downward bending, although it also depends on the strength and elasticity of the lithosphere. The bending equation is a crucial idea for understanding glacier rebound, mountain building, and the formation of sedimentary basins.

The authors of the new paper say scientists need to rethink how the balancing act on Mars works. This is due to Mount Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system, and an entire volcanic region called Tharsis Rise, or tharsis montesTharsis Montes is a vast volcanic region that includes three other massive shield volcanoes: Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons.

The theory of skew equilibrium suggests that this massive region would push the planet’s surface down. But the opposite is true. The Tharsis Montes region is much higher than the rest of Mars’ surface. NASA’s InSight lander has already told scientists a lot about Mars’ gravity, and it’s forcing researchers to rethink how it all works on Mars.

“This means we need to rethink how we understand the support provided by the supervolcano and its surroundings,” the authors wrote. “The gravity signal on its surface is in good agreement with a model that considers the planet to be a thin crust.”

The research shows that active processes in the Martian mantle are pushing Tharsis Montes upward. “There appears to be a large mass (a light object) deep in the Martian mantle, possibly rising from the mantle,” the authors say. “This suggests that Mars may still be experiencing active movements within its interior, which are generating new volcanic objects on the surface.”

Researchers have discovered an underground mass about 1,750 kilometers wide and 1,100 kilometers deep. They suspect it is a mantle plume rising beneath Tharsis Montes and strong enough to resist the downward pressure from the entire mass.

“This suggests that the head of a plume is currently flowing upward into the lithosphere to generate volcanic activity in the geological future,” the authors write in their paper.

There is debate about the extent of volcanic activity on Mars. Although there are no active volcanic features on the planet, research It shows that the Tharsis region has reappeared in the recent geological past within the last few tens of millions of years.

If there is a mantle plume beneath Tharsis Montes, could it eventually reach the surface? This is just speculation, and more research is needed to confirm these findings.

Researchers have also discovered other gravitational anomalies. They have found mysterious dense structures beneath Mars’ northern polar plains. These structures are buried under a thick, smooth layer of sediment that likely settled on the floor of an ancient sea.

The anomaly is approximately 300-400 kg/m.³ denser than its surroundings. Earth’s moon has gravitational anomalies associated with giant impact basins. Scientists believe that the bodies that created the basins were denser than the moonIts mass became part of the moon.

Impact basins on Mars also show gravity anomalies. However, anomalies in the northern hemisphere of Mars show no trace of them on the surface.

“These dense structures may be of volcanic origin or may be material compressed by ancient impacts,” said Dr Root. “There are about 20 features of varying sizes that we have identified scattered around the area surrounding the northern polar cap – one of which resembles the shape of a dog.”

“There seems to be no trace of them on the surface. However, through Gravity data“We are getting an interesting look at the ancient history of the northern hemisphere of Mars.”

The only way to understand these mysterious structures and Mars’ gravity in general is to get more data. Root and his colleagues advocate a mission that can gather the necessary data.

The mission is called the Mars Quantum Gravity Mission (MaQuls). It will use the same technology as the GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) and GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) missions, which mapped the gravity of the Moon and Earth, respectively. The MaQuls missions will consist of two satellites that will follow each other and be linked by an optical link.

“Observations with MaQuIs will allow us to better explore the interior of Mars,” said Dr. Lisa Wörner of the German Aerospace Center, who presented on the MaQuIs mission at EPSC2024 this week. “This will help us learn more about these mysterious hidden features and study the ongoing convection in the mantle, as well as understand dynamic processes on the surface such as seasonal changes in the atmosphere and the discovery of underground water reservoirs.”

This article was originally published by The universe todayRead. Original Article.