Achi news desk-
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news of fascinating discoveries, scientific advances and more.
Scientists may have spotted a giant, oddly shaped volcano taller than Mount Everest on the surface of Mars – and it’s been hiding in plain sight for decades, according to new research.
The possibility of identifying a previously unknown Martian volcano has made waves across the planetary science community since Mars Institute Chairman Dr Pascal Lee, lead author of a summary about the formation, presented the findings on March 13 at the 55th Conference Lunar and Planetary Science in The Woodlands, Texas.
The research has raised excitement – and attracted some skeptics.
Some of the largest volcanoes on Mars are relatively close to the proposed Noctis volcano. Shown here: 1) Olympus Mons, the tallest known volcano in the solar system. 2) The Tharsis Plateau, home to three massive volcanoes. 3) Labyrinth of the night 4) Valles Marineris, a nearby region of canyons – NASA SVS
Lee said he and Sourabh Shubham, a doctoral student in geology at the University of Maryland, College Park, identified a volcano in the Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars – a jagged patch of land near the equator with a web of canyons. The volcano in “Labyrinth of Night” may have eluded scientists despite years of satellite observation because it doesn’t overshadow the surrounding landscape, Lee said.
“It’s also deeply eroded, eaten away and demolished by erosion to the point that unless you’re really looking for a volcano, you’d be hard-pressed to see it very quickly ,” he told CNN.
If the team is correct, the revelation could have far-reaching implications for scientists’ understanding of the geology of Mars. And, Lee said, he hopes the discovery could help attract future exploratory expeditions to the area to look for water ice or even signs of life.
The smoking gun
Initially, the research team’s efforts led to a study presented in March 2023 that suggested the Noctis Labyrinthus region may be home to a giant glacier covered in salt deposits.
Since then, Lee and Shubham have combed through data collected by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, trying to determine whether water could still be frozen beneath the salt.
A close up of a section of The Tharsis Rise showing: 1) Labyrinth of the night 2) Caldera suspected of the unconfirmed volcano. 3) Relic Glacier. 4) Glyn Marineris. – CNN/USGS
The hunt for water ice is key – it’s a resource that could be used to support human exploration of Mars or even be converted into rocket fuel. While scouring the landscape, however, Lee said he was struck by “this little lava flow next to the glacier.”
The lava was not yet fully oxidized, a process that would turn it the same muddy orange color as the surrounding surface, Lee said.
That indicated the lava could be relatively fresh – the first hint that an undiscovered volcano could be lurking nearby.
“We started looking at the landscape carefully,” Lee said. “And sure enough, when we explored the highlights of this region, we noticed that they formed an arc.”
That arc is reminiscent of a shield volcano, Lee added, a type of volcano that also exists on Earth. Shield volcanoes are characterized by their broad, tapering flanks – appearing wider than they are tall.
That finding led Lee and Shubham to gather more evidence, ultimately determining that the 29,600-foot (9,022-meter) peak was in fact the tip of a Martian volcano.
That’s a few hundred feet taller than Mount Everest, which rises 29,029 feet (8,848 meters) above sea level.
Mapping Mars
Scientists have already cataloged and named more than a dozen volcanoes on Mars, including Olympus Mons, the tallest known volcano in the solar system.
Lee said he and Shubham are working to explain the findings in a peer-reviewed paper, more detailed work that could give the idea more credibility across the scientific community.
But the theory of the existence of the volcano is already attracting attention.
“It’s a big thing,” said Dr. Adrien Broquet, Humboldt Research Fellow at the German Aerospace Center who has studied the volcanoes of Mars. “It’s as tall as the tallest mountain we have on Earth. So, it’s not a small feature on Mars that we’ve got a question mark for. And we have plenty of question marks (about the surface of Mars.)”
Searching for life in the Labyrinth of the Night
The journey to identify this volcano – which the team has provisionally named “Volcano Noctis” – began in 2015, Lee said, when NASA asked the planetary science community to suggest interesting locations on Mars where it could the US space agency will land human exploration missions in the future.
Lee proposed a site just east of Noctis Labyrinthus.
The location could be an ideal place to search for alien life on Mars, said Lee, who is also a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to searching for evidence of extraterrestrial life.
“Of course, we’re not looking for a little green man with an antenna,” Lee said. “But we’re looking for microbes that wouldn’t fit into the tree of life on Earth.”
Noctis Labyrinthus could be in an ideal location for this hunt, according to Lee.
“If you want to look for ancient life, you drive east (of Noctis Labyrinthus) into the canyons,” Lee said, referring to Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in our solar system.
There, explorers could “filter through the rock layers” to scour for fossils, he said.
Or, Lee suggested, a mission could venture west to a volcanic region called the Tharsis plateau, where warm caves may contain living microbes.
With such stunning potential, Lee is committed to studying Noctis Labyrinthus to build a case for sending exploratory missions there.
A volcano, a glacier and the history of Mars
The existence of a volcano in Noctis Labyrinthus could also help explain the creation of this strange landscape.
Scientists suspect that magma erupted from inside Mars forming the labyrinthian valleys, but the details are disputed.
One theory is that when the magma pushed up on the Martian crust, it cracked and split, leaving behind a maze of branching canyons.
Lee favors an alternative theory: This model suggests that the Martian crust in Noctis Labyrinthus is filled with ice. And when magma came in, it melted or evaporated ice and rock below the surface, causing swaths of the ground to cave in.
The existence of a volcano in the region, Lee said, could offer more support for the latter theory.
The science of certainty
Three scientists who were not involved in the research told CNN that they would not be surprised if a volcano was hidden near Noctis Labyrinthus.
Volcanoes of all shapes and sizes dot the surface of the wider region, including the Tharsis plateau west of Noctis Labyrinthus.
However, Dr. Ernst Hauber, a staff scientist at the German Aerospace Center’s Planetary Research Institute, is one geologist in the community who would like to see a peer-reviewed paper before he accepts Lee and Shubham’s version of events.
“They are very vague about the chronology, the timing of events,” Hauber told CNN, referring to the brief summary published by Lee and Shubham.
Among Hauber’s questions: If the volcano was still active, as Lee suggests, why hasn’t it poured lava into the nearby canyons? Why aren’t there more visible signs of lava near the top? Could this really be an impact crater that Lee is looking at?
“I’m a bit skeptical for several reasons,” said Hauber.
Broquet of the German Aerospace Center and Dr David Horvath – a research scientist at the non-profit Planetary Science Foundation in Tucson, Arizona – both said in separate interviews that they would like to see additional data supporting the ideas presented by Lee and Shubham.
But Broquet and Horvath said they found the abstract interesting.
“This looks like a very good candidate (for a volcano),” Horvath said.
Lee said he welcomes input from other scientists, eager for additional evidence to support his research. But it also expresses confidence.
“In this case, my sense is that there’s really no room for plausible alternative theories,” Lee said, adding that he was 85% to 90% certain he had found 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.
For more CNN news and newsletters, create an account at CNN.com
Ad blocking test (Why?)
Source link
Related
