Astronomers Find Hidden Volcano on Mars

The boiled surface of Mars consists of craters, canyons and mysterious formations that refer to a complex geological past. Scientists have recently studied an attractive characteristic that could shed light on the elusive history of the planet.

A mountain perched on the edge of the Jezero de Mars crater can actually be a hidden volcano in sight, according to a new study. This peak, called Jezero Mons, could offer new information on the geological history of the red planet and The potential of ancient Martian lifesay the researchers.

The results, published in the journal Earth & Environment Communications In May, validate the long -term suspicions that Jezero Mons is volcanic. Using the data of three Mars orbiters and the perseverance of the NASA rover, the researchers found striking similarities between this mountain and the explosive volcanoes previously identified on Mars and the Earth.

“Jezero Crater is one of the best studied sites on Mars. If we have just identified a volcano here, imagine how many others could be on Mars”, ” said The corresponding author James Wray, professor of astronogeology and remote sensing at Georgia Tech, in a university press release. “Volcanoes can be even more widespread on Mars than we thought.”

Wray had an intuition that Jezero Mons has been a volcano since he put his eyes on him in 2007. “I looked at low-resolution photos of the region and I noticed a mountain on the edge of the crater”, he recalls in the press release. “For me, it looked like a volcano, but it was difficult to get additional images.” At the time, scientists only recently discovered the Jezero crater. Once scientists have determined that It was probably an old lake bedImaging efforts focused on its history of the water on the side of Jezero Mons.

Then, shortly after the perseverance of NASA landed In Jezero Crater in 2021, there was a break in the case. This rover brings together samples from the Martian surface To help in search of past life, investigate the climate and geology of the planet and open the way for human exploration of the red planet. Shortly after, the data of perseverance showed that the crater floor was not sedimentary, as we would expect from an unequal area. It was actually do volcanic rock.

Wray wondered if this Ignary rock could have come from Jezero Mons. He joined the main author Sara Cuevas -Qiñones – a graduate student at Brown University who worked with Wray as part of a undergraduate research program at the time – to try to answer this question.

Wray, Cuevas-Quiñones and their colleagues used a combination of data from the orbiter of Mars Odyssey, of March Recognition Orbiter, Exomars Trace Gas Orbiter and Perseverance Rover to “renovate this,” said Wray. This wealth of data allowed researchers to better understand the characteristics of Jezero Mons and compare them to other known volcanoes.

They found that the size and shape of this peak are similar to Martian volcanoes such as Zephyria and Apollinarus Tholi, as well as Mount Sidley in Antarctica. In addition, the researchers determined that the surface of Jezero Mons lacks craters of impact and does not keep the heat well – two signs that can be covered with volcanic ash. Certain parts of the northwest flank of the peak also felt the edges of past lava flows which seem to reach the soil of the crater, which could explain why persistence has found an ignoled rock there.

Although this does not definitely prove that Jezero Mons is a volcano, it is some of the strongest evidence that experts have so far. The results mark an intriguing development in the search for life in Jezero Crater. A volcano located so close to this old lake could have generated a hydrothermal activity – an energy source that could have supported past life.

Now the researchers are waiting for the return of the samples of perseverance. The dating of radio-isotopes can determine the precise age of the ignful rocks that this rover has collected, which could then be used to estimate the age of Jezero Crater, according to the researchers. This would offer valuable information on the geological history of the red planet.

Currently, NASA and its international partners have no solid plan to recover this collection of rocks and dust, but the agency is revision The two mission strategies to return to Mars example (MSR) in order to confirm the program in 2026. However, the proposal for the budget of President Donald Trump in 2026, threatens to derail this program. If it is adopted by Congress, the budget end The MSR mission on the grounds that it is “widely exceeded the budget” and that its objectives can be achieved by human missions in Mars.

Wray hopes that he will get his hands on the perseverance of the finds in one way or another. “If these samples have returned to earth, we can make an incredible and revolutionary science with them,” he said.