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CNN — (CNN) — Scientists may have identified a huge, strangely shaped volcano on the surface of Mars that’s taller than Mount Everest, and it’s been hidden in obscurity for decades, a new discovery suggests. revealed in research.
The possibility of identifying previously unknown Martian volcanoes was confirmed by Mars Research Institute President Dr. Pascal Lee, lead author of the abstract on the formation of Martian volcanoes, at the 55th Lunar Planet Conference held on March 13th. Since the results were announced at a scientific conference, they have caused ripples in the planetary science community. The Woodlands, Texas.
The study generated excitement and also attracted some skeptics.
Lee and Sourav Shubham, a geology doctoral student at the University of Maryland, College Park, say they have identified a volcano within Mars’ Noctis Labyrinth region, a gnarled terrain near the equator with a network of canyons. Ta. The volcano, located in the “labyrinth of the night,” does not tower over the surrounding terrain, so scientists may not have been able to find it despite years of satellite observations, Lee said.
“It’s also deeply eroded, eroded, and collapsed, so unless you’re really looking for a volcano, it’s going to be really hard to find one right away,” he told CNN.
If the researchers are correct, the discovery could have far-reaching implications for scientists’ understanding of Mars’ geology. And Lee said he hopes the discovery will help attract future exploration missions to the region to search for water ice and even signs of life.
smoking gun
Initially, the research team’s efforts led to the publication in March 2023 of a study suggesting that the Noctis Labyrinth region may be home to large glaciers covered with salt deposits.
Since then, Lee and Shubham have pored over data collected by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Rover to try to determine whether water might still be frozen beneath the salt.
The key is to look for water ice. Ice is a resource that can be used to sustain human exploration of Mars or converted into rocket fuel. But Lee said that while admiring the view, she was struck by “this little lava flow next to the glacier.”
Lee said the lava has not yet fully oxidized, and when it does, it will take on the same cloudy orange color as the surrounding surface.
This indicates that the lava may be relatively fresh, and is the first hint that an undetected volcano may be lurking nearby.
“We started looking at the landscape carefully,” Lee said. “And sure enough, when we looked at the high points in the area, we noticed that they formed an arc.”
The arc is reminiscent of a shield volcano, a type of volcano that also exists on Earth, Lee added. Shield volcanoes are characterized by their wide, gently sloping sides, making them appear wider than they are tall.
With this discovery, Lee and Shabam gathered more evidence, eventually determining that the 29,600-foot (9,022-meter) peak was actually the tip of a Martian volcano.
This is several hundred feet higher than Mount Everest, which is 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level.
Mapping Mars
Scientists have already cataloged and named more than a dozen volcanoes on Mars. These include Mount Olympus, the tallest known volcano in the solar system.
Lee said he and Shubham are working to elaborate on their findings in a peer-reviewed paper, and that more detailed research could lend further credence to the idea across the scientific community. Ta.
However, the hypothesis about the existence of volcanoes is already gaining attention.
“This is a big deal,” said Dr. Adrian Broke, a Humboldt researcher at the German Aerospace Center who has studied volcanoes on Mars. “It’s as high as the highest mountain on Earth. So this isn’t some small feature of Mars that we’ve been asking about. And there are a lot of question marks (about the surface of Mars).”
Quest for life in the night labyrinth
The journey to identify the volcano, which the team has tentatively named Volcano Noctis, will help NASA suggest to the planetary science community interesting locations on Mars where the U.S. space agency might land on future human exploration missions. Lee said it started in 2015, when he asked for help.
Mr. Lee proposed a location called “Noctis Landing”, just east of Noctis Labyrinth.
The location could be an ideal place to search for extraterrestrial life on Mars, Lee said. He is also a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life.
“Of course, we’re not looking for little green humans with antennae,” Lee said. “But what we’re looking for are microorganisms that don’t fit into the tree of life on Earth.”
Noctis Labyrinthus may be in an ideal location for this hunt, Lee said.
“If you want to look for ancient life, you drive east[from Noctis Labyrinthus]into the canyon,” Lee said, referring to Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system.
There, he said, explorers can “sift through the rock formations” looking for fossils.
Alternatively, the mission could head west to a volcanic region called the Tharsis Plateau, Lee suggested. There, living microorganisms may live in warm caves.
With such a fascinating possibility, Lee is working to study the Noctis Labyrinth and build a basis for sending exploration missions there.
Volcanoes, glaciers, and the history of Mars
The presence of volcanoes in the Noctis Labyrinth may also help explain the formation of this strange landscape.
Scientists suspect that the maze-like valleys were formed by magma gushing from Mars’ interior, but the details are up for debate.
One theory is that as magma pushed up the Martian crust, it cracked open, leaving behind a labyrinth of branching canyons.
Lee supports a different theory. This model suggests that the Martian crust in Noctis Labyrinth is filled with ice. As the magma penetrated, ice and rock beneath the surface melted or evaporated, causing parts of the landscape to cave in.
Lee said the presence of volcanoes in the area may lend more support to the latter theory.
science of certainty
Three scientists not involved in the study told CNN they wouldn’t be surprised if there was a hidden volcano near Noctis Labyrinth.
The surface of the wider region, including the Tharsis Plateau to the west of Noctis Labyrinth, is dotted with volcanoes of all shapes and sizes.
But Dr. Ernst Hauber, a staff scientist at the German Aerospace Center’s Planetary Institute, is one of the geologists in the community who wants to see a peer-reviewed paper before accepting Lee and Schwamm’s view. It is.
“They’re very vague about the timeline and the timing of events,” Hauber told CNN, referring to the short summary released by Lee and Shubham.
Among Hauber’s questions is: If the volcano could still be active, as Lee suggests, why didn’t lava flow into the surrounding valley? Why aren’t the lava tracks more clearly visible near the summit? Could this actually be the impact crater Lee is seeing?
“I’m a little skeptical for several reasons,” Hauber said.
Broke of the German Aerospace Center and Dr. David Horvath, a research scientist at the nonprofit Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, both said in separate interviews that additional data supports the ideas presented by Lee and Shubham. He said he wanted
But Bloquet and Horvath said they were intrigued by the abstraction.
“This looks like a very good candidate (for a volcano),” Horvath said.
Mr Lee said he was keen for more evidence to support his research and welcomed input from other scientists. But he also expresses his confidence.
“In this case, my sense is that there is no room for any plausible alternative hypothesis,” Lee said, adding that he was 85 to 90 percent sure of the location of the new Martian volcano.
“But extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” Lee added, quoting the late astronomer Carl Sagan, for whom he once worked as a teaching assistant.
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