News Planetary Science

Marsquakes hint that the planet might be volcanically active after all

The finding, based on more than 1,000 quakes, suggests the planet isn’t geologically dead

Mars' Cerberus Fossae region, seen as a barren landscape with a prominent fault line running through it

A relatively young fracture cuts through hills and craters in Mars’ heavily faulted Cerberus Fossae region, seen in this 2018 image taken by the Mars Express orbiter.

ESA, DLR, FU Berlin (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)

By Katherine Kornei

Mars might be, geologically speaking, not quite dead.

Researchers have analyzed a slew of recent temblors on the Red Planet and shown that these Marsquakes are probably caused by magma moving deep under the Martian surface.