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Evidence of 2 Billion Years of Volcanic Activity on Mars Discovered, Longest Lived Volcanoes in Solar System
Analysis of a Martian meteorite found in Africa in 2012 has uncovered evidence of at least 2 billion years of volcanic activity on Mars. This confirms that some of the longest-lived volcanoes in the solar system may be found on the Red Planet.
Much of what we know about the composition of rocks from volcanoes on Mars comes from meteorites found on Earth. Analysis of different substances provides information about the age of the meteorite, its magma source, length of time in space and how long the meteorite was on Earth’s surface.
Something slammed into the surface of Mars 1 million years ago, hitting a volcano or lava plain. This impact ejected rocks into space. Fragments of these rocks crossed Earth’s orbit and fell as meteorites.
The meteorite, known as Northwest Africa 7635 and discovered in 2012, was found to be a type of volcanic rock called a shergottite. Eleven of these Martian meteorites, with similar chemical composition and ejection time, have been found.
“We see that they came from a similar volcanic source,” Lapen said. “Given that they also have the same ejection time, we can conclude that these come from the same location on Mars.”
Together, these meteorites provide information about a single location on Mars. Previously analyzed meteorites range in age from 327 million to 600 million years old. In contrast, the meteorite analyzed by Lapen’s research team was formed 2.4 billion years ago and suggests that it was ejected from one of the longest-lived volcanic centers in the solar system.
Minako Righter, a researcher and lab supervisor in the UH Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, was involved with this study along with collaborators from the University of Washington; Aarhus University; University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of California, Berkeley; University of Arizona, and Purdue University.
Contacts and sources:
Sara Tubbs
University of Houston
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