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Mars might not be such a dead planet after all, geologically speaking anyway. A newly discovered volcanic feature suggests there could have been activity on the surface in the past 50,000 years, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Arizona<\/a>\u2019s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona.<\/p>\n \u201cThis may be the youngest volcanic deposit yet documented on Mars,\u201d says Dr David Horvath, from the Planetary Science Institute, who led the study.<\/p>\n Read more:\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Recent orbital images of Elysium Planitia have revealed a 32km-long volcanic fissure surrounded by a 13km-wide deposit of dark material.<\/p>\n Geologists believe it is the result of a pyroclastic eruption, where gases in the molten rock cause it to violently explode, rather than become the slow-flowing magma that spread across most of the Red Planet.<\/p>\n Most volcanic activity on Mars took place 3 to 4 billion years ago. Until now, there was no evidence to indicate Mars could still be volcanically active.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis feature overlies the surrounding lava flows and appears to be a relatively fresh and thin deposit of ash and rock, representing a different style of eruption than previously identified pyroclastic features,\u201d says Horvath.<\/p>\n \u201cThis eruption could have spewed ash as high as 6 miles [10km] into Mars\u2019s atmosphere. It is possible that these sorts of deposits were more common but have been eroded or buried.\u201d<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s InSight lander, which is currently listening out for marsquakes, has measured two seismic events coming from the region around the fissure, indicating there is volcanic activity beneath the surface.<\/p>\n The region is also only 10km away from Mars\u2019s youngest large crater, suggesting a recent impact could have trigged the activity.<\/p>\n \u201cAll the data seems to be telling the same story,\u201d says Associate Professor Jeffrey Andrews-Hanna, from the University of Arizona. \u201cMars isn\u2019t dead.\u201d<\/p>\n Words: Chris Lintott<\/em><\/p>\n With four active robots on the surface, and a fleet of orbiting spacecraft, the Red Planet is coming under scrutiny like never before.<\/p>\n The most exciting results come when different observations can be tied together. Volcanic activity \u2013 like the kind that the team found using data from NASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter \u2013 might fit in with the observation from the Curiosity rover of \u2018burps\u2019 of methane, and its possible presence in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n Methane, which might be produced by volcanic activity or maybe just by biological processes, is the primary target for the European Space Agency\u2019s Trace Gas Orbiter, though it has so far drawn a blank.<\/p>\n Ezzy Pearson is BBC Sky at Night Magazine\u2019s News Editor. Chris Lintott co-presents The Sky at Night.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mars might not be such a dead planet after all, geologically speaking anyway. A newly discovered volcanic feature suggests there could have been activity on the surface in the past 50,000 years, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Arizona\u2019s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Mars might not be such a dead planet after all, geologically speaking anyway. A newly discovered volcanic feature suggests there could have been activity on the surface in the past 50,000 years, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Arizona\u2019s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson,…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/19321"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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<\/div>\nWhy Mars exploration is so important<\/strong><\/h1>\n
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