Possible mud volcano on Mars
Date: 05 October 2011
Depicts: Possible mud volcano on Mars
Copyright: HiRISE, MRO, LPL/University of Arizona, NASA
A candidate mud volcano over 100 metres across on the northern plains of Mars.
Mud volcanoes are geological structures formed when a mixture of gas, liquid and fine-grained rock (or mud) is forced to the surface from a distance of several metres to kilometres underground. Scientists are interested in the mud volcanoes because the sediments brought up from below could contain organic materials that might provide evidence for possible past or present microbial life below the Martian surface. Mud volcanoes on Earth (for example, those found in Italy and Romania) vent methane, a chemical species that will be searched for by the two spectrometers that will be carried on the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter.
Candidate mud volcanoes have been reported since the 1970s. However, it was only in 2010 that they were positively identified and a map including more than 18 000 of these circular mounds was published for the first time.
This image was produced from a HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) observation. HiRISE is a high-resolution camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
