Publication: New evidence for a volcanically, tectonically, and climatically active Mars
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Publication Date
2004
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Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam
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Abstract
Geological analysis of Mars imagery supports the hypothesis that the planet has been the site of recent (< 10 Ma) volcanic and tectonic
processes and glacier flow, and makes most likely previous suggestions of continuing endogenic and exogenic activity. Tectonic structures
which deform very slightly cratered (at MOC scales) surfaces of Tharsis Montes and surrounding regions seem to attest to active tectonism
(both extensional and transcurrent) on Mars. Exogenic processes in this region, such as a glacial origin for the aureole deposits on the
northwestern flanks of the Tharsis Montes shield volcanoes, are supported by new data. The very recent age of these structures could be the
first direct confirmation that drastic changes in obliquity are modulating the martian climate, such that an increase in obliquity would result
in equatorial glaciers taking the place of the receding polar ice caps. If this and other concurring research is extended and confirmed, the
‘alive Mars’ which would emerge would constitute a most appealing place for exobiology and comparative planetology.