MARS MAY BE HOME TO SOME OF THE OLDEST VOLCANOES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM

“THE LARGEST MARTIAN VOLCANO, OLYMPUS MONS, IS NEARLY 22KM HIGH”

This rocks. A team from the University of Houston has found a two-billion-year-old volcanic Martian meteorite, suggesting that some of the longest lived volcanoes in the Solar System are found on Mars.

Dubbed Northwest Africa 7635, the meteorite was discovered in Algeria in 2012 and is made from a type of volcanic rock known as shergottite. It made its way to Earth around one million years ago after a large object slammed into the surface of the Red Planet, hitting a volcano or lava plain. The impact sent a large volume of rocks careering into space, some of which entered Earth’s orbit and fell as meteorites. In total, researchers have found 11 of these Martian meteorites, all with a similar chemical composition.

“We see that they came from a similar volcanic source,” said lead researcher Tom Lapen. “Given that they also have the same ejection time, we can conclude that these come from the same location on Mars.”

Previously analysed Martian meteorites have ranged in age from 327 million to 600 million years old. But research has shown that Northwest Africa 7635 was formed 2.4 billion years ago, suggesting that it was ejected from one of the longest-lived volcanic centres in the Solar System.

Much of what is known about the composition of rocks from volcanoes on Mars comes from meteorites found on Earth. The shield-shaped volcanoes found on Mars are caused by lava flowing over long distances, similar to the formation of the Hawaiian Islands. The largest Martian volcano, Olympus Mons, is nearly 22km high – almost triple the height of Earth’s tallest volcano, Mauna Kea.