A massive column of magma more than a thousand miles wide is slowly but steadily rising beneath the Tharsis volcanic region on Mars and could one day trigger a powerful eruption. Solar SystemThe highest mountain in the world is Mount Olympus.
It is 13.6 miles (21.9 kilometers) high, Olympus Mons It rises so high in the Martian sky that its crater protrudes from the sky. Mars atmosphere And inside spaceOlympus is joined by three other large volcanoes in the Tharsis region: Mount Ascraus, Mount Arsia, and Mount Pavonis. All of these volcanoes have been dormant for millions of years, but that could change, new research suggests.
“Mars may still be experiencing active movements within its interior, which influence and possibly lead to the emergence of new volcanic features on the surface,” said Bart Root, an assistant professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, in a study published in the journal Nature. statementRoot presented his team’s discovery at the Europlanet science conference last week in Berlin.
The four Volcanoes Standing on the Tharsis bulge, a huge bulge on the side of Mars This means that it is 3,000 miles (5,000 km) wide and 4 miles (7 km) high above its surroundings, not including the volcanoes that rise above it.
By carefully studying the subtle changes in the orbits of many planets, Satellites About Mars – Like Mars Expressthe Mars exploration probe And the ExoMars Trace Gas Probe — Root and his colleagues were able to map the Red Planet’s gravitational field. They found areas where attractiveness There were areas where gravity was stronger and there were areas where gravity was weaker.
Related to: Magma on Mars may be flowing underground right now
In addition to seismic measurements of the thickness and elasticity of the planet’s crust, mantle, and deep interior, which consists of NASAMars vision New findings from NASA’s mission have revealed the complexities of the distribution of mass inside Mars. Instead of being arranged into neat layers like an onion, the interior of Mars is more lumpy, with varying density anomalies.
Root’s team found that beneath Tharsis is a vast region of weaker gravity, created by a less dense zone 1,750 kilometers wide and 1,100 kilometers deep. They interpret this as a massive plume of magma slowly working its way up from the planet’s interior, perhaps to one day power Tharsis’s volcanoes again.
However, this mantle plume isn’t the only oddity Root’s team has found from the gravity map. They’ve also discovered more than 20 mysterious subsurface structures of varying sizes — including one that looks like a dog — beneath Mars’ northern hemisphere, where a cloud of dust is located. The ancient ocean once filled the lowlands.In contrast to the mantle plume beneath Tharsis, these northern features are denser than the surrounding areas and have a strong gravitational pull. These structures cannot be seen from the surface of Mars; they are buried deep beneath sediments laid down by the ocean.
“These dense structures may be of volcanic origin or may be material compressed by ancient impacts. There seems to be no trace of them on the surface. However, through the gravity data, we have an interesting glimpse into the earlier history of the northern hemisphere of Mars,” Root said.
A new mission will be needed to learn more about these mysterious features. Root is part of a team that suggests Mars Quantum Gravity Mission (MCQM)which will map the gravitational field on Mars in detail from its orbit.
“Observations with the McCulls telescope will allow us to better explore the interior of Mars,” said Lisa Wörner, a researcher at the German Aerospace Center, in the statement. “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.”
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