{"id":293584,"date":"2026-02-16T04:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T04:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/293584\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T04:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T04:52:12","slug":"the-hidden-story-of-young-martian-volcanoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/293584\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hidden Story of Young Martian Volcanoes"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you look at a volcano, you\u2019re seeing the tip of a vastly more complicated system. The mountain itself is just the exit point for processes that have been happening deep underground, perhaps for millions of years. Magma doesn\u2019t simply appear at the surface ready to erupt it rises, stalls, cools, changes, and evolves in underground chambers before finally breaking through.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve known this about Earth\u2019s volcanoes for a long time, but it turns out Mars has been playing the same game. New research published in the journal Geology shows that some of the Red Planet\u2019s youngest volcanic systems had far more intricate histories than anyone realised.
\nAn international team of scientists studied a volcanic system south of Pavonis Mons, one of Mars\u2019 giant shield volcanoes in the Tharsis region. Using high resolution images and mineral data from orbiting spacecraft, they essentially performed detective work from space, piecing together clues left behind in the rocks.<\/p>\n

\"Infrared<\/a> Infrared image mosaic showing the shield volcano Pavonis Mons, the central of three peaks in the Tharsis Montes chain, in the central part of the Tharsis region of Mars (Credit : NASA \/ JPL-Caltech \/ Arizona State University)<\/p>\n

What they discovered was fascinating. Rather than forming in a single, straightforward eruption, this volcanic system went through multiple distinct phases. Early on, lava poured out through long cracks in the ground, what geologists call fissure eruptions. Later, the style changed completely, with lava erupting from concentrated point sources that built up cone shaped vents.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the clever bit: although these different lava flows look quite different on the surface, they all came from the same underground plumbing system. Think of it like a house with several taps (and I should know as recently done a load of plumbing in my house, mostly successful!) the water comes from the same pipes, but it emerges in different places and different ways.<\/p>\n

The real revelation came from analysing the minerals in each lava flow. Each eruption left behind a distinct mineral fingerprint, and these signatures tell us that the magma itself was evolving over time. The magma was probably coming from different depths, or spending varying amounts of time stored underground before erupting.<\/p>\n

\"Lava<\/a> Lava rafts and flows, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program. Location is the Elysium quadrangle on Mars (Credit : NASA\/Jim Secosky)<\/p>\n

This matters because we can\u2019t exactly pop over to Mars and chip off a rock sample. Everything we know about the planet\u2019s interior has to come from studying what\u2019s visible on the surface. These volcanic systems are like windows into Mars\u2019 deep interior, revealing processes happening kilometres below ground.<\/p>\n

This all suggests that even during Mars\u2019 most recent volcanic period, the planet\u2019s subsurface remained geologically active and complex. The volcano didn\u2019t just erupt once and fall silent, it evolved as conditions beneath the surface shifted and changed. It\u2019s a reminder that Mars, though smaller and colder than Earth, has led a rich geological life. The planet\u2019s volcanic history isn\u2019t a simple story of early activity followed by steady decline. Instead, it\u2019s a tale of ongoing processes, of magma systems that remained dynamic for millions of years, shaping the surface we see today.\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b<\/p>\n

Source : Mars’ ‘young’ volcanoes prove more complex than scientists once thought<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When you look at a volcano, you\u2019re seeing the tip of a vastly more complicated system. The mountain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[85,46,141,145],"class_list":["post-293584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}