Signs of possible recent volcanic activity have been detected on Mars. This was reported by the European Space Agency (ESA), citing a study published in the journal Science Advances.
“Our results show that Mars has retained enough internal heat to sustain volcanic activity until recently, and possibly still sustains it today,” said one of the study’s leaders, Daniel Mège, a professor at the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) detected hydrogen chloride above volcanic fissures on the slopes of the huge Alba volcano. The researchers suggest that the gas may be coming from the planet’s interior, where hot magma remains.
TGO first detected hydrogen chloride in the Martian atmosphere in 2021. Its concentration usually peaks in winter in the northern hemisphere and almost disappears in summer. However, at the beginning of summer the gas was again recorded above the same fissures of Alba.
Images from the Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) camera also revealed fresh, narrow fissures up to several hundred metres long there, as well as changes in the colour of the surface. According to one hypothesis, magmatic gases linked to a dormant magma chamber are rising through the fissures. In winter the fissures may be sealed by ice, and after it sublimates in summer, chlorine-containing compounds are released, which settle on the surface and change its colour.
No present-day eruptions or new lava flows have yet been observed on Mars. At the same time, orbital images indicate that some volcanoes may have remained active over the last few million years, and seismometers have recorded marsquakes.
