Possible Mud Volcanoes on Mars
Explanation:
Is this a mud volcano on Mars?
If so, could it be dredging up martian microbes?
This
strange
possibility has been
suggested recently and seems to fit several recent observations of Mars.
First of all, hills like this seem to better resemble
mud volcanoes
on Earth than
lava volcanoes and
impact craters on Mars.
Next, the
pictured dome has an unusually textured surface consistent with fractured ice.
Infrared images from space indicate that hills like this cool more quickly than
surrounding rock, consistent with a dried mud composition.
The hills also reflect colors consistent with a composition that formed in the presence
of water.
Finally, unusual
plumes of gas containing methane have been found on Mars with
unknown origin.
These gas plumes could conceivably have been liberated by
mud volcanoes, were the initially warm mud to contain
methane-producing microbes drifting in a previously unobservable
underground lake.
A candidate
mud volcano over 100 meters across is
pictured above in the northern plains of Mars.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
