Massive volcano "hiding in plain sight" on Mars

[Judi Lynn]

Tharsis region and Valles Marineris on Mars. Credit: Mark Garlick / Science Photo Library / Getty Images Plus.

March 15, 2024

Evrim Yazgin

A giant volcano has been ‘hiding’ on the surface of Mars – but scientists have only just identified the behemoth, as well as possible glacier ice beneath its surface.

The volcano has been provisionally given the title “Noctis volcano” pending an official name.

Noctis volcano has been imaged repeatedly since 1971. But it has been eroded almost beyond recognition. It lies at the border between the Noctis Labyrinthus – a region of maze-like, deep, steep-walled valleys – and the vast canyons of Valles Marineris.

The newly discovered volcano lies on the eastern part of Mars’s Tharsis volcanic province.

Its true nature as a volcano was finally given away when planetary scientists were analysing the remains of a glacier in 2023, they announced at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference held in The Woodlands, Texas.

A paper has been published on the Universities Space Research Association website.

Noctis volcano is 9,022 metres high and 450 km wide making it nearly 200 metres taller than Mt Everest. But it’s not the Red Planet’s biggest volcano.

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/astronomy/mars-massive-volcano-found/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Gargantuan volcano on Mars found hidden 'in plain sight,' and it could hold potential signs of life

By Emily Cooke published 19 hours ago
A newly discovered volcano near Mars' "Labyrinth of Night" could be a "prime" spot to search for life on the Red Planet, scientists say.


. . .

The volcano is around 280 miles (450 kilometers) wide and more than 29,600 feet (9,000 meters) high. It is located in the eastern part of Mars' Tharsis volcanic province near the planet's equator, scientists revealed at the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held in Texas between March 11 and 15.

The team also spotted what appears to be the remains of a sheet of buried glacier ice near the base of the volcano. They believe this could make the volcano a "prime location" for astrobiological research and the search for signs of alien life.
"This combined giant volcano and possible glacier ice discovery is significant, as it points to an exciting new location to study Mars' geologic evolution through time, search for life, and explore with robots and humans in the future," the scientists said in a statement.

Spacecraft orbiting Mars have been unknowingly imaging the volcano ever since NASA's Mariner 9 was sent to the Red Planet in 1971. However, the volcano is so deeply eroded that it has slipped under the radar, until now.

"We were examining the geology of an area where we had found the remains of a glacier last year when we realized we were inside a huge and deeply eroded volcano," project leader Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute and the Mars Institute based at NASA Ames Research Center, said in the statement.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/gargantuan-volcano-on-mars-found-hidden-in-plain-sight-and-it-could-hold-potential-signs-of-life