Tag: Planetary geology

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Olympus Mons

Olympus Mons is the biggest volcano in the solar system. But that wouldn’t be obvious if you were standing on it. This article explains why.

The tallest volcano in the solar system is so wide that from most places on its slopes, you would never see a dramatic summit rising ahead of you — Olympus Mons is broader than some countries, and its gentle flanks curve away with Mars long before the mountain looks like a mountain at all.
The tallest volcano in the solar system is so wide that from most places on its slopes, you would never see a dramatic summit rising ahead of you — Olympus Mons is broader than some countries, and its gentle flanks curve away with Mars long before the mountain looks like a mountain at all.

Olympus Mons stands about 22 km tall but spans some 600 km, with flanks of only a few degrees. Wider than the Martian horizon, its summit hides below the curve of the planet, so from its slopes it barely reads as a mountain. Why it grew so large, and where the real cliff actually is.
Space Daily Space Daily

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Existential risk

I’ve been reading about existential risk lately. This article is not immediately relevant to Mars or our future there. But it also kinda is.

The Tanis fossil site, in North Dakota, appears to be showing us creatures directly killed by the Chicxulub asteroid impact. The picture of that leg is reminder that “geologic time” includes now, just as it did for these organisms on a day that changed the world, 66 million years ago.

From the article:
“We’ve got so many details with this site that tell us what happened moment by moment, it’s almost like watching it play out in the movies. You look at the rock column, you look at the fossils there, and it brings you back to that day,” says Robert DePalma, the University of Manchester, UK, graduate student who leads the Tanis dig.

Tanis: Fossil found of dinosaur killed in asteroid strike, scientists claim
Tanis: Fossil found of dinosaur killed in asteroid strike, scientists claim

Remains are unearthed of a dinosaur that may have died on the very day a space rock hit Earth.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
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Marsquakes

The lack of a magnetoshpere on Mars plays a key role in the latest book, Shelter.

The magnetic field around planets like Earth is the result of a geodynamo around the molten core. Because Mars has no magnetosphere, it has long been thought that very little happens in its interior. This study suggests that there is active movement of magma inside Mars after all.

From the article:
“Knowing that the Martian mantle is still active is crucial to our understanding of how Mars evolved as a planet,” says geophysicist Hrvoje Tkalčić of the Australian National University in Australia… “The marsquakes indirectly help us understand whether convection is occurring inside of the planet’s interior, and if this convection is happening, which it looks like it is based off our findings, then there must be another mechanism at play that is preventing a magnetic field from developing on Mars,” Tkalčić says.


Mars Is Rumbling With Mysterious Quakes We've Never Detected Before

Mars Is Rumbling With Mysterious Quakes We’ve Never Detected Before

It turns out that Mars is rumblier than we knew.

ScienceAlert ScienceAlert