A recent analysis of a powerful quake on Mars has uncovered unexpected levels of seismic activity on the Red Planet, challenging previous assumptions about its geological processes. The groundbreaking research was based on the most potent Marsquake ever recorded, which occurred on May 4, 2022, and was detected by NASA’s InSight lander, a mission aimed at understanding the interior of Mars.
This Marsquake, with a magnitude of 4.7, was five times more powerful than the previous record-holder and also stood out as the longest recorded quake, lasting for a remarkable six hours. Instead of being caused by an asteroid impact, as initially suspected, scientists have now concluded that this unprecedented event was the result of tectonic forces within Mars.
A detailed account of this discovery has been published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The InSight lander, which touched down on Mars in November 2018, recorded more than 1,300 Marsquakes during its mission, with only eight of them attributed to asteroid impacts.
Teams from India, China, Europe, and the United Arab Emirates had searched for signs of an asteroid impact but found none. After months of investigation, scientists reached the groundbreaking conclusion that the May 2022 quake was of tectonic origin, overturning previous beliefs about Mars’ geological activity.
This discovery provides valuable insights into the geological evolution of Mars, which was once considered too small and too cold to host tectonic processes similar to those on Earth. Unlike Earth, Mars doesn’t exhibit a surface broken by plate tectonics, making it appear geologically inactive.
However, the study indicates that this significant quake resulted from the release of billion-year-old stress within Mars’ crust, originating from the planet’s uneven cooling and shrinking rates in various regions. While there’s still much to learn about the variation in stress levels across the planet, this information holds the potential to guide future human settlement efforts on Mars by identifying suitable and unsuitable areas.
Benjamin Fernando, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oxford, emphasized the importance of such discoveries in shaping our understanding of the Red Planet’s geological processes and the future prospects for human exploration.
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