{"id":2237554,"date":"2026-11-04T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2237554"},"modified":"2026-11-04T19:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T16:00:00","slug":"mars-volcanoes-might-just-be-playing-dead-new-detection-suggests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2237554","title":{"rendered":"Mars volcanoes might just be playing dead, new detection suggests"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/helios-i.mashable.com\/imagery\/articles\/07huVa1Sh6gfNYEYO81wYk3\/hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.v1793753140.jpg”]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
Home<\/a>><\/span>Science<\/a>><\/span>Space<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Oh, snap. Martian volcanoes might actually still be alive.<\/h1>\n
This orbiter caught a whiff of some stinky cracks.<\/div>\n
\n
\n \u00a0By\u00a0<\/p>\n
Elisha Sauers<\/a><\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\"Mashable<\/p>\n
\n
Elisha Sauers<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n Elisha Sauers writes about space for Mashable, taking deep dives into NASA’s moon and Mars missions<\/a>, chatting up astronauts<\/a> and history-making discoverers<\/a>, and jetting above the clouds<\/a>. Through 17 years of reporting, she’s covered a variety of topics, including health, business, and government, with a penchant for public records requests. She previously worked for The Virginian-Pilot<\/em> in Norfolk, Virginia, and The Capital<\/em> in Annapolis, Maryland. Her work has earned numerous state awards, including the Virginia Press Association’s top honor, Best in Show<\/u><\/a>,\u00a0and national recognition<\/u><\/a> for narrative storytelling. For each year she has covered space, Sauers has won National Headliner Awards<\/u><\/a>, including first place for her Sex in Space<\/a> series. Send space tips and story ideas to [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/u><\/a> or text 443-684-2489. Follow her on X at @elishasauers<\/u><\/a>.\n <\/div>\n

Read Full Bio<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0on\u00a0

Share on Facebook<\/span><\/a>Share on Twitter<\/span><\/a>Share on Flipboard<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Mars<\/p>\n
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express captures Alba Mons, a Martian volcano, stretching about 620 miles wide in this June 2017 view.<\/span>Credit: ESA \/ DLR \/ FU Berlin<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

Though Mars<\/u><\/a> has the largest volcanoes<\/u><\/a> in the solar system, many scientists have claimed they are long-extinct. No one has ever seen smoke or lava erupting from their towering summits.<\/p>\n

But new evidence from a European spacecraft may force researchers to rethink that assumption: Maybe these volcanoes are not dead after all \u2014 just dormant.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:<\/span>Mars without its makeup can look a little blue. Here’s why.<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n

The shakeup comes from new research led by Alexander Trokhimovskiy, based on data from the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter<\/u><\/a> (TGO), which studies gases in the Red Planet’s air from space<\/u><\/a>. The orbiter detected hydrogen chloride near Alba Mons<\/u><\/a>, which sits in the northern hemisphere. The chemical is a foul-smelling gas that often vents from volcanoes. Nothing in Mars’ weather or air chemistry points to why the gas collects in this one area.<\/p>\n

Two cameras, Cassis and NASA<\/u><\/a>‘s Hirise, also spotted fresh narrow cracks \u2014 some just inches to a foot or two wide \u2014 in the ground beneath where the gas appeared.<\/p>\n

“Our findings suggest that Mars has retained enough internal heat to support volcanic activity until recently,” said Daniel M\u00e8ge, co-lead author from the Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences, in a statement, “and possibly still does.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

These observations<\/u><\/a>, published in Science Advances<\/em> on Wednesday, are clues that Mars may still be volcanically active, not just billions of years ago, with magma \u2014 hot, melted rock \u2014 still coursing beneath its surface. M\u00e8ge has gone so far as to call the hydrogen chloride detection the “smoking gun.” If true, Mars may have warm, wet pockets underground<\/u><\/a> where life could survive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Featured Video For You<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
How Project Hail Mary made a rock spider lovable<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

Despite the common belief that Mars’ volcanoes are dead<\/u><\/a>, scientists have spotted subtle clues over the years that they may not be. NASA’s Insight lander<\/u><\/a>, for example, recorded marsquakes, which could indicate magma movement is shaking the ground. Some hardened lava flows and ash eruptions in Tharsis, a huge volcanic plateau that includes Alba Mons, have been dated to only tens of millions of years ago, along with some in two other volcanic regions. Computer simulations suggest heat rising from deep inside Mars could still be melting rock under the plateau today.<\/p>\n

What scientists haven’t found is a clear sign of activity. Searches for heat or visible changes at the surface have come up empty. So has the hunt for sulfur dioxide, the gas scientists usually look for.<\/p>\n

\n
Mashable Light Speed<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories?<\/div>\n
Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Light Speed newsletter.<\/div>\n
\n By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Thanks for signing up!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

But the missing gas doesn’t mean Mars’ volcanoes are completely tapped out, the researchers say. Even on Earth, volcanoes don’t always release it. After an eruption ends, a volcano often gives off little sulfur dioxide but continues leaking hydrogen chloride because the latter dissolves in the oozy melted rock below the surface.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Martian rocks and soil also carry more chlorine compared to their water and sulfur than Earth rocks do. The research team figures that makes hydrogen chloride likely one of Mars’ most common volcanic gases.<\/p>\n

\n
\"NASA<\/div>\n
In this global map, the north pole is at the bottom and the equator is at the top.<\/span>Credit: NASA \/ MGS \/ MOLA Science Team \/ FU Berlin infographic<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The orbiter first detected the hydrogen chloride in Mars’ thin air in 2020. The gas usually follows the seasons, accumulating in northern winter and dissipating by summer, rising and falling with the planet’s dust and water cycles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One spot didn’t follow that pattern. Every early northern summer the researchers checked, the gas surged in the same place \u2014 above cracks on the slopes of Alba Mons. Some of the cracks are in clusters stretching for miles, running along ridges up to about 100 feet high. The cracks cut through an icy surface layer that formed only about 630,000 years ago, which means they showed up sometime more recently. On a geological timescale, that would date them to practically yesterday.<\/p>\n

The spacecraft measured the gas by looking through the Martian air toward the sun<\/u><\/a>. The study focused on 78 of these observations over the region. The fact that the orbiter caught a handful of gas molecules from a source that may switch on only now and then surprised even the scientists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n
Related Stories<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n