NASA/JPL/MSSS/The Murray Lab
When a person thinks of Mars, it’s not a very happening place — aside from the occasional dust storm. However, a new study suggests that not only might the Red Planet be more dynamic than previously thought, but it could still be volcanically active.
Orbiters circling Mars have provided images and data of a previously unknown area of interest — the Cerberus Fossae system.
The data shows evidence of volcanic activity that happened within the last 50,000 years, which is fairly young in astronomical terms.
"This may be the youngest volcanic deposit yet documented on Mars," said David Horvath, the lead author of the study published in Icarus. "If we were to compress Mars' geologic history into a single day, this would have occurred at the very last second."