Mars Earthquakes

Planetary Rumble

Planet Earth is composed of dozens of tectonic plates that constantly move around to position themselves – and end up causing earthquakes in the process.

Mars doesn’t have plate tectonics, yet scientists at NASA were able to record several seismic rumbles within the red planet, National Geographic recently reported.

Last year, NASA’s InSight lander robot, for the first time, recorded two “marsquakes” between magnitudes 3 and 4 in area known as Cerberus Fossae, nearly 1,000 miles from the craft’s landing zone.

The quakes were pretty small by Earth’s standards, but they are the largest seismic activities recorded on Mars.

Scientists remain unclear as to what exactly is causing the planetary rumble.

After Mars was formed, the molten rock surface of the planet cooled down to form a static crust round a rocky inner mantle, yet scientists aren’t sure about the current state of the planet’s interior.

They suspect that pockets of magma might still remain below the crust and the marsquakes are formed due to the rocky planet’s ongoing cooling and contraction.

The NASA team, however, has declined to comment until their results are published in a peer-reviewed journal, but other scientists are pretty excited at the prospect of Mars’s seismic activity.

“Mars has just become a bit more alive to us with these data,” said planetary geologist Paul Byrne, who wasn’t involved in the study.