Volcanic Activity Underneath Mars’ Surface Could Trigger Repetitive Marsquakes

As human beings seek ways to colonize Mars in the not-too-distant future, a critical point must be taken into account when building settlements on the surface of the Red Planet: repetitive marsquakes. An international team of scientists foresees that volcanic activities under Mars’ surface could cause marsquakes.

As part of the study conducted by scientists from the Australian National University (ANU) and Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Sciences, 47 marsquakes that have never been discovered before were detected underneath the layer. Cerberus Fossae were picked for the study, and its results were published in Nature Communications.

The Cerberus Fossae is a seismically highly active region where crevices were formed by faults. The researchers believe that the repeated quakes are due to magma movement connected with “volcanic activity in the upper mantle beneath Cerberus Fossae.”

Marsquakes and NASA’s findings in the past

In addition, the latest study gives more information than NASA’s past findings on Martian tremors. The recent results tell us that marsquakes repeatedly took place at all times of the Martian day, said geophysicist Hrvoje Tkalcic, who is also co-author of the study, from the ANU. Reports on Martian quakes announced by NASA before, however, said the exact opposite. According to the space agency, the temblors happened “only during the dead of night when the planet is quieter,” as Tkalcic stated.

“Therefore, we can assume that the movement of molten rock in the Martian mantle is the trigger for these 47 newly detected marsquakes beneath the Cerberus Fossae region,” said Tkalcic. “Knowing that the Martian mantle is still active is crucial to our understanding of how Mars evolved as a planet.”

InSight lander. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Just like earthquakes on Earth, marsquakes happen on Mars, too. Taking frequently happened marsquakes into consideration, a challenging question emerges: How will marsquakes affect human colonization on the Red Planet? While most of the seismic events on Mars are relatively minor compared with what happens on Earth, a few are still in existence. NASA’s InSight lander detected two quakes of magnitudes 4.2 and 4.1 later last year.

Of course, quakes on Mars would have resulted in trembling but in terms of magnitude, these events were small and their effect would be almost negligible should have happened on Earth.

Magnetic field plays a vital role in life

“The marsquakes indirectly help us understand whether convection is occurring inside of the planet’s interior, and if this convection is happening, which it looks like it is based on our findings, then there must be another mechanism at play that is preventing a magnetic field from developing on Mars,” Tkalcic pointed out.

According to Tkalcic, Earth’s magnetic field is of vital importance to sustain life here on our planet as that field protects us from harmful cosmic radiation.

“Therefore, understanding Mars’ magnetic field, how it evolved, and at which stage of the planet’s history it stopped is obviously important for future missions and is critical if scientists one day hope to establish human life on Mars,” he added.