Recent Martian volcanic activity?

[lpetrich]

Giant mantle plume reveals Mars is more active than previously thought | University of Arizona News

"Our study presents multiple lines of evidence that reveal the presence of a giant active mantle plume on present-day Mars," said Adrien Broquet, a postdoctoral research associate in the UArizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and co-author of the study with Jeff Andrews-Hanna, an associate professor of planetary science at the LPL.

...
"We have strong evidence for mantle plumes being active on Earth and Venus, but this isn't expected on a small and supposedly cold world like Mars," Andrews-Hanna said. "Mars was most active 3 to 4 billion years ago, and the prevailing view is that the planet is essentially dead today."

"A tremendous amount of volcanic activity early in the planet's history built the tallest volcanoes in the solar system and blanketed most of the northern hemisphere in volcanic deposits," Broquet said. "What little activity has occurred in recent history is typically attributed to passive processes on a cooling planet."

Elysium Planitia has had some eruptions over the last 200 million years, much more recently than most of the rest of Mars.

"Previous work by our group found evidence in Elysium Planitia for the youngest volcanic eruption known on Mars," Andrews-Hanna said. "It created a small explosion of volcanic ash around 53,000 years ago, which in geologic time is essentially yesterday."

Volcanism at Elysium Planitia originates from the Cerberus Fossae, a set of young fissures that stretch for more than 800 miles across the Martian surface. Recently, NASA’s InSight team found that nearly all Martian quakes, or marsquakes, emanate from this one region. Although this young volcanic and tectonic activity had been documented, the underlying cause remained unknown.

Then describing mantle plumes and what they do.

When the team studied the features of Elysium Planitia, they found evidence of the same sequence of events on Mars. The surface has been uplifted by more than a mile, making it one of the highest regions in Mars’ vast northern lowlands. Analyses of subtle variations in the gravity field indicated that this uplift is supported from deep within the planet, consistent with the presence of a mantle plume.

Other measurements showed that the floor of impact craters is tilted in the direction of the plume, further supporting the idea that something pushed the surface up after the craters formed. Finally, when researchers applied a tectonic model to the area, they found that the presence of a giant plume, 2,500 miles wide, was the only way to explain the extension responsible for forming the Cerberus Fossae.

"In terms of what you expect to see with an active mantle plume, Elysium Planitia is checking all the right boxes," Broquet said, adding that the finding poses a challenge for models used by planetary scientists to study the thermal evolution of planets. "This mantle plume has affected an area of Mars roughly equivalent to that of the continental United States. Future studies will have to find a way to account for a very large mantle plume that wasn't expected to be there.

"We used to think that InSight landed in one of the most geologically boring regions on Mars – a nice flat surface that should be roughly representative of the planet’s lowlands," Broquet added. "Instead, our study demonstrates that InSight landed right on top of an active plume head."

 

[lpetrich]

Geophysical evidence for an active mantle plume underneath Elysium Planitia on Mars | Nature Astronomy

Although the majority of volcanic and tectonic activity on Mars occurred during the first 1.5 billion years of its geologic history, recent volcanism, tectonism and active seismicity in Elysium Planitia reveal ongoing activity. However, this recent pulse in volcanism and tectonics is unexpected on a cooling Mars. Here we present observational evidence and geophysical models demonstrating that Elysium Planitia is underlain by an ~4,000-km-diameter active mantle plume head. Plume activity provides an explanation for the regional gravity and topography highs, recent volcanism, transition from compressional to extensional tectonics and ongoing seismicity. The inferred plume head characteristics are comparable to terrestrial plumes that are linked to the formation of large igneous provinces. Our results demonstrate that the interior of Mars is geodynamically active today, and imply that volcanism has been driven by mantle plumes from the formation of the Hesperian volcanic provinces and Tharsis in the past to Elysium Planitia today.

 Volcanism on Mars

 Mantle plume - the Earth has several of these, and they make volcanic hot spots, like the one that made the Hawaii Islands and the Emperor seamount chain.

GeoHack - Elysium (volcanic province) -- it's a little west of the Tharsis volcanic plateau, with its four big volcanoes on it.

The geological activity at Elysium Planitia may make it possible for microbes to live under the surface at that feature.

 

[Jokodo]

Very interesting. This got me wondering though: if our previous models suggested that Mars has long cooled down to the point where it shouldn't be volcanically active anymore, but this evidence suggests that it still is - have we been underestimating the amount of heat it generates internally? Which probably means we have been underestimating the amount of radioactive matter in its core? If that is so, and given that the planets coalesced from the same proto-planetary disk, maybe we are also underestimating the amount of radioactive matter in Earth's core? But I assume temperature curve in Earth's crust is fairly well constrained through observation, given we've been digging mines up to a few hundred meters fairly regularly for quite a while now, plus some experimental drills to several kilometers. So maybe the heat transport from the core to the surface is less constant than we assume, with long periods where heat builds up inside (in the lower mantle perhaps) and rare cataclysmic events (like the ones forming the  Siberian_Traps or the  Deccan_Traps playing a larger role in the planet's heat budget than we believed?

 

[Bronzeage]

My favorite part:

Their findings could also have implications for life on Mars, the authors say. The studied region experienced floods of liquid water in its recent geologic past, though the cause has remained a mystery. The same heat from the plume that is fueling ongoing volcanic and seismic activity could also melt ice to make the floods – and drive chemical reactions that could sustain life deep underground.

"Microbes on Earth flourish in environments like this, and that could be true on Mars, as well," Andrews-Hanna said,

Some people just can't give up on the hope of meeting a Martian, however small they might turn out to be.

 

[lpetrich]

The deepest mines are the  Mponeng Gold Mine and  TauTona Mine gold mines in Gauteng Province in South Africa, where Johannesburg is located. They go down 4 kilometers. From the Mponeng article, "The temperature of the rock reaches 66 °C (151 °F), and the mine pumps slurry ice underground to cool the tunnel air to below 30 °C (86 °F)."

The depth champion is the  Kola Superdeep Borehole on the Kola Peninsula near Norway and the Arctic Ocean, at 12,262 meters. According to The deepest hole we have ever dug - BBC Future it reached 180 C (356 F) at the bottom of it.

 

[Jokodo]

The depth champion is the  Kola Superdeep Borehole on the Kola Peninsula near Norway and the Arctic Ocean, at 12,262 meters. According to The deepest hole we have ever dug - BBC Future it reached 180 C (356 F) at the bottom of it.

According to the internet, they breached hell, that's why they sealed it. Those of us using functional as blockers have no idea how often variations of this story pop up as clickbaity ads.

 

[Jokodo]

The deepest mines are the  Mponeng Gold Mine and  TauTona Mine gold mines in Gauteng Province in South Africa, where Johannesburg is located. They go down 4 kilometers. From the Mponeng article, "The temperature of the rock reaches 66 °C (151 °F), and the mine pumps slurry ice underground to cool the tunnel air to below 30 °C (86 °F)."

The depth champion is the  Kola Superdeep Borehole on the Kola Peninsula near Norway and the Arctic Ocean, at 12,262 meters. According to The deepest hole we have ever dug - BBC Future it reached 180 C (356 F) at the bottom of it.

On a more serious note, Murmansk, the closest city from the Kola site, had an average annual surface temperature of 1.1 °C, while Johannesburg has 15.5. So that's an increase of almost exactly 1.25 K per 100m for Mponeng and almost exactly 1.5 K
/100m for the Kola Superdeep Borehole.

 

[Trebaxian Vir]

I assure you, if the fires of Vulcan should flicker in the frozen wastelands of Greenland, then the same disturbances’ll be kindled on the barren plains of the Red planet. If, however, there’s no vulcanic activity in the one, there’ll be none in th’other.​

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I assure you, if the fires of Vulcan should flicker in the frozen wastelands of Greenland, then the same disturbances’ll be kindled on the barren plains of the Red planet. If, however, there’s no vulcanic activity in the one, there’ll be none in th’other.​

Why?!

Whether volcanic activity exists depends on the core temperature, not on the surface temperature. (Other than the fact that low surface temperatures can produce cryovolcanoes that could never exist on Earth. You can have cryovolcanoes with a cooler core than magma volcanoes.)

 

[Trebaxian Vir]

​

Why?!​

Just a hunch, I confess. By the way, I distinctly recall you, and forget pretty much everyone else who posted here 20 years ago. You were one of the few individuals here in the early years of this millennium, ‘02 or ‘03 or thereabouts, who consistently challenged my beliefs, yet never once impugned my character. A true gentleman, if I may say so. Or lady, as the case may be; I cannot say for certain, for the name “Loren” is of epicene designation. Based, however, on your writing style, and your general interests, I presume you to be a gentleman of the male persuasion. You, and a certain “livius drusus,” a female, who was equally gracious in manner, and spoke highly of me, are the only ones I can recall by name from 20 years past who graced this forum with their presence.
​

Whether volcanic activity exists depends on the core temperature, not on the surface temperature.​

It is, indeed, commonly taught that the existence of vulcanic activity is dependent upon the core temperature, & not the surface temperature. But do we truly know this to be the case? In my estimation, it is but another dubious proposition, unprovable & untestable. Just another dogma, really. It must be acknowledged that we are utterly ignorant of the mysteries of the core, let alone the hypothetical core of a hypothetical wandering star.
 Our deepest penetration into the depths of the earth is a mere 8 miles, a distance no greater than the thickness of an apple’s skin , if the earth be likened to an apple, & the core of the apple to the core of the earth; & yet, even in that limited journey, our preconceived notions were proven false at every step. Where the model predicted there would be water, we found rock ; where it predicted there would be rock, there was water ; & yet we presume to know what’s at the core? We didn’t know the first 8 miles, yet we know the next 2,000 miles downward? Preposterous !
 This, I remind you, pertains only to our own terrestrial sphære,—and only the first 8 or so miles at that,—never mind the alleged alien landscapes of Mars. Nay, when it comes to the earth’s core, all we possess is a series of suppositions built upon hypotheses built upon conjectures built upon mere speculation, with little solid ground upon which to stand.
 I should like to suggest a healthy dose of scepticism & rationality when it comes to such tales.
 And, I must clarify, I was not suggesting that anything is determined by the surface temperature. I merely mentioned it as part of my poetic description of the terrain. I neither affirm nor deny the commonly taught explanation for vulcanic activity. But I do remain deeply sceptical of that explanation. To my mind, it bears all the hallmarks of an unfounded dogma.
 Nevertheless, I am ever ready to be corrected, & to have my understanding of the matter improved. For it is only through a persistent & rigorous examination of the truth that we may expand our knowledge & deepen our understanding.
 Your obedient slave,
 Osmund

​

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Just a hunch, I confess. By the way, I distinctly recall you, and forget pretty much everyone else who posted here 20 years ago. You were one of the few individuals here in the early years of this millennium, ‘02 or ‘03 or thereabouts, who consistently challenged my beliefs, yet never once impugned my character. A true gentleman, if I may say so. Or lady, as the case may be; I cannot say for certain, for the name “Loren” is of epicene designation. Based, however, on your writing style, and your general interests, I presume you to be a gentleman of the male persuasion. You, and a certain “livius drusus,” a female, who was equally gracious in manner, and spoke highly of me, are the only ones I can recall by name from 20 years past who graced this forum with their presence.

Actually, it's not ambiguous, you simply need to get off my lawn! "Loren" is male, "Lauren" is female--it's just that the male version has dropped out of use.

​

Whether volcanic activity exists depends on the core temperature, not on the surface temperature.​

It is, indeed, commonly taught that the existence of vulcanic activity is dependent upon the core temperature, & not the surface temperature. But do we truly know this to be the case? In my estimation, it is but another dubious proposition, unprovable & untestable. Just another dogma, really. It must be acknowledged that we are utterly ignorant of the mysteries of the core, let alone the hypothetical core of a hypothetical wandering star.
 Our deepest penetration into the depths of the earth is a mere 8 miles, a distance no greater than the thickness of an apple’s skin , if the earth be likened to an apple, & the core of the apple to the core of the earth; & yet, even in that limited journey, our preconceived notions were proven false at every step. Where the model predicted there would be water, we found rock ; where it predicted there would be rock, there was water ; & yet we presume to know what’s at the core? We didn’t know the first 8 miles, yet we know the next 2,000 miles downward? Preposterous !​

While we can't know all the details we can determine density and what is solid vs liquid by measuring the effect on seismic signals passing through the planet. (Density acts like a lens, solid/liquid interfaces reflect.)

 This, I remind you, pertains only to our own terrestrial sphære,—and only the first 8 or so miles at that,—never mind the alleged alien landscapes of Mars. Nay, when it comes to the earth’s core, all we possess is a series of suppositions built upon hypotheses built upon conjectures built upon mere speculation, with little solid ground upon which to stand.​

Note that we have put seismic probes on both the Moon and Mars. Our data is limited, though.

 

[lpetrich]

The deepest mines are the  Mponeng Gold Mine and  TauTona Mine gold mines in Gauteng Province in South Africa, where Johannesburg is located. They go down 4 kilometers. From the Mponeng article, "The temperature of the rock reaches 66 °C (151 °F), and the mine pumps slurry ice underground to cool the tunnel air to below 30 °C (86 °F)."

The depth champion is the  Kola Superdeep Borehole on the Kola Peninsula near Norway and the Arctic Ocean, at 12,262 meters. According to The deepest hole we have ever dug - BBC Future it reached 180 C (356 F) at the bottom of it.

On a more serious note, Murmansk, the closest city from the Kola site, had an average annual surface temperature of 1.1 °C, while Johannesburg has 15.5. So that's an increase of almost exactly 1.25 K per 100m for Mponeng and almost exactly 1.5 K
/100m for the Kola Superdeep Borehole.

Good work. I like that.

 Geothermal gradient and  Earth's internal heat budget and Global Heat Flow Compilation Group (2013): Component parts of the World Heat Flow Data Collection

In the more usual units of K/km or mK/m, that's 14.6 for Kola and 12.6 for Mponeng.

The more usual value is 25 - 30 K/km, so I decided to look for what geological features might explain their low values.

Both of them are in "cratons", blocks of very old continental crust.

The Mponeng mine is in the Kaapvaal craton in eastern South Africa, dating back 3.6 billion years. A little bit of western Australia, the Pilbara Craton, dates back to the same age, and both were likely part of one continent back then: Vaalbara.

The Kola drill site is in the Baltic Shield in the East European Craton, and its rocks go back 3.1 billion years.

 

[bilby]

I'm pretty sure that cratons are either a warlike race of aliens from Dr Who, or little bits of toast served in soup.

 

[lpetrich]

Interior rock may sometimes be shoved up to the surface, notably in ophiolites, bits of oceanic lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) shoved on top of continents where one continent runs into another.

Geology Word of the Week: O is for Ophiolite - Georneys - AGU Blogosphere - from one of its diagram, an ophiolite is about 4 to 14 kilometers thick.

Ophiolites | Volcano World | Oregon State University - the Samail ophiolite (Hajar Mountains, United Arab Emirates and Oman) is about 15 kilometers thick.

That beats the Kola borehole and easily beats the Mponeng mine.


The macroscopic objects that formed the farthest down are diamonds and their matrix rock that were then brought upward in an unusual kind of volcanic eruption -  Diamond - kimberlite volcanic pipes. Most diamonds formed at 150 - 250 km depth, and some formed at 330 - 660 km depth.