Science | Discovery
Mars Was Labeled Dead. Something Under Mars’ Surface Says Differently
Scientists detected a mysterious gas escaping from an enormous Martian volcano. The discovery raises the possibility that something is alive beneath the surface.
Imagine standing on Mars.
The sky is a dusty orange shade. The terrain stretches toward the horizon. It’s cold, barren, and seems lifeless. Towering volcanic mountains dominate parts of the planet, acting as monuments to a distant past when Mars was likely a very different world.
For years, Scientists have watched this planet and wondered whether its geological activity has finally ended. Mars appeared to be a world that had burned through its internal energy, lost much of its atmosphere, and gradually become the cold desert we see today. But something unexpected is happening.
A spacecraft orbiting Mars has detected unusual emissions of hydrogen chloride gas above cracks in the slopes of an enormous Martian volcano. And scientists believe the gas could be escaping from somewhere deep beneath the planet’s surface.
If that interpretation is correct, Mars may not be as dead as we once thought. Even more intriguing is that the discovery could help identify places where microscopic life might still have a chance of surviving. And that changes the way we think about our neighboring planet.
The Mysterious Gas That Shouldn’t Be There
The discovery involves the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a craft designed to study the gases surrounding Mars. Its instruments have been detecting hydrogen chloride, a colorless, highly corrosive gas, in the Martian atmosphere.
Hydrogen chloride is particularly interesting because it can be associated with volcanic activity. On Earth, Volcanic systems release a variety of gases as molten rock moves beneath the surface. As magma rises and pressure decreases, dissolved gases can escape.
Scientists have begun noticing something unusual about the hydrogen chloride measurements on Mars. The gas appeared in unexpected concentrations during the early summer in the planet’s northern hemisphere.
This doesn’t appear to be a random event. The emissions repeatedly appeared in the same general region. The area is the northern slopes of Alba Oms, one of the largest volcanic structures on Mars.
The orbiting craft’s observations, combined with detailed images of the surrounding terrain, revealed narrow fractures in the volcanic landscape. Some of these cracks extend hundreds of feet. The researchers believe these fractures could provide pathways for gases escaping from underground geological systems.
This is a remarkable possibility.
Something beneath the surface may still be releasing volcanic gas into the Martian atmosphere. The team studying this reported their finding in Science Advances.
Meet Alba Mons: A volcano on an almost unimaginable scale.
To appreciate what’s been discovered, it helps to understand where it happened.
Located in Mars’s enormous Tharsis volcanic region, it is one of the most expansive volcanic structures in the solar system. Unlike the steep-sided volcanoes many people picture on Earth, Alba Mons is a broad shield volcano with seemingly gentle slopes.
Its massive footprint makes it particularly fascinating to planetary scientists. The region also sits relatively close to Olympus Mons, the legendary Martian volcano that rises approximately 13.6 miles above the surrounding plains. For comparison, imagine a mountain more than twice the height of Mount Everest.
Now imagine a neighboring volcanic landscape stretching across an area so enormous that ordinary comparisons become difficult. These structures tell us that Mars once possessed tremendous geological energy.
Volcanic eruptions reshaped its surface, released gases into its atmosphere, and helped create a planet that was once potentially much warmer and wetter than it is today. But questions remain about what happened to that energy.
Did Mars finally cool down? Or did something survive beneath the surface? The new observations have given the scientific community a greater reason to investigate the question again.
Mars May Have Been Sleeping, Not Dead
For years, the prevailing picture of the red planet has been that Mars’s major volcanic period ended long ago. There have been hints that this might not be the complete story. Orbital images have shown lava flows that appear to be only a few million years old in geological terms.
NASA’s InSight mission also detected marsquakes, demonstrating that the planet still experiences seismic activity. However, until now, convincing evidence of ongoing magmatic activity has remained elusive.
The hydrogen chloride discovery adds another potentially important piece of evidence. Researchers believe that gas could originate from chlorine-bearing compounds dissolved in magma beneath the surface. As the magma rises and pressure decreases, hydrogen chloride may escape through the fractures in the rock.
There is also a possible reason why gas appears seasonally. During the Martian winter, ice may block some of the underground pathways. When temperatures rise, that ice sublimates, changing directly from solid ice into water vapor.
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The trapped gas can then escape. And researchers believe this process could explain why the unusual emissions become detectable during particular periods. But there is one important qualification.
Scientists have not directly observed molten magma moving beneath Alba Mons. Other chemical processes involving underground water and minerals could potentially produce hydrogen chloride.
The volcanic explanation is promising, but it needs further investigation. That uncertainty makes the discovery a scientific mystery worth following.
And Then Comes The Really Big Question: Could Life Exist There?
Things start to get much more exciting for those studying this when you consider: could this mean there’s life on Mars?
When people consider finding evidence of life on Mars, it’s often on the surface. You might think of fossilized microorganisms, strange chemical traces, or something alive beneath the dusty surface and reddish-tinted soil. But the surface of the planet is extremely hostile to life as we understand it.
Temperatures can be brutally cold. Radiation reaches the ground because of the lack of a protective global magnetic field and an atmosphere thick enough to make a difference. On Mars, liquid water is difficult to maintain under the present conditions.
However, the underground environment could be a different story. On Earth, microorganisms survive in places that once seemed impossible. Scientists have discovered microbial life in deep underground rock formations, beneath glaciers, and around hydrothermal systems, and some of these organisms survive without sunlight.
They obtain energy from chemical reactions involving minerals and their surrounding environment. That is important because underground volcanic systems can provide several things that make microbial life possible.
- Heat from the planet’s interior.
- Water circulating through underground rock.
- Chemical compounds that microorganisms use for energy.
- Protection from the dangerous conditions on the surface.
This doesn’t mean that anybody discovered microorganisms or life on Mars. They haven’t. But it does mean that a location once thought to be an unlikely place to search may deserve another look.
What if Mars still has secrets beneath its surface?
The Red Planet May Not Have Told Us Its Final Secret
For decades, Mars has been portrayed as a world that lost its chance at life. Its rivers disappeared, and its surface water vanished, while its atmosphere thinned and its enormous volcanoes became silent monuments to an ancient geological past. But the latest findings suggest the story might be more compelling.
Somewhere beneath Alba Mons’s slopes, gases may still be escaping through fractures in the rock. The source could be remnants of underground volcanic activity, or it could involve some chemical reactions between water and minerals. Scientists still need to discover what is happening.
What else would this discovery matter?
We may be looking at evidence that Mars is not completely done with its volcanic past. We may also be looking at a potential clue about where life could survive on Earth.
For now, there is no new eruption to report, no Martian organisms, and no proof of an active magma chamber. But there is a newer mystery.
Mars was supposed to be a dead world. But one might ask, have we been looking in the right places?
What do you think?
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