Scientists have discovered a massive, deeply eroded giant shield volcano on Mars that has been “hiding in plain sight.”
The volcano, which has been provisionally named “Noctis Mons,” reaches 29,600 feet (9,022 meters). That’s about the same as Mauna Loa, one of the five volcanoes that forms the island of Hawaii. Noctis Mons is taller than Mount Everest but becomes only the seventh tallest volcano on Mars.
Discovered just south of the planet’s equator, Noctis Mons could be an ideal place to send NASA’s next Mars rover to search for evidence of life.
The reason it’s not been seen before now is that it’s been heavily eroded. In fact, Noctis has been photographed repeatedly for decades.
Deeply Eroded
“We were examining the geology of an area where we had found the remains of a glacier last year when we realized we were inside a huge and deeply eroded volcano,” said Dr. Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute based at NASA Ames Research Center, and the lead author of the study. As well as a collapsed volcanic crater that would have once hosted a lake of lava, the scientists found lava flows around the volcano’s perimeter.
Noctis Mons—whose slopes extend 140 miles (225 kilometers)—is within a region of Mars called the Eastern Noctis Labyrinthus, west of its canyon system Valles Marineris. It’s the seventh largest volcano on Mars, the biggest being Olympus Mons, which, at 72,000 feet (21,950 meters) tall, is the largest in the solar system.
Glacier Discovery
Noctis Mons was found in the same region of Mars by the same researchers who last year discovered a relict glacier—the salt that formed on top of a glacier, preserving its shape, even its crevasses. That suggested the presence of surface water ice on Mars in recent times, suggesting the possibility that ice may still exist just under the surface of Mars.
The discovery of both a giant volcano and the remains of a glacier makes the Noctis Labyrinthus region of Mars one to go straight on to NASA’s to-do list for future Mars rovers and human exploration. “It’s an ancient and long-lived volcano so deeply eroded that you could hike, drive, or fly through it to examine, sample, and date different parts of its interior to study Mars’ evolution through time,” said Lee, who called it “exceptionally exciting” and a “prime location for astrobiology and our search for signs of life.”
The volcano was found using data from NASA’s Mariner 9, Viking Orbiter 1 and 2, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions, as well as ESA’s Mars Express mission.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
