Mars Once Hid Vast Magma Rivers, Oxford Study Finds
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- University of Oxford researchers analyzed seismic data from NASA's InSight Lander — recorded during meteorite impacts and Martian quakes — and identified a boundary 15 miles (24km) below Mars's surface most likely caused by molten rock pooling and flowing sideways for hundreds or thousands of miles.
- Published in Nature Astronomy, the findings overturn the prior assumption that Martian volcanoes sat above simple isolated magma chambers, instead pointing to a complex interconnected underground plumbing system.
- The magma network could have produced a chemically complex crust capable of recycling elements and supporting the processes needed to generate an atmosphere and ocean on the Martian surface.
- Such a system would also help regulate Mars's climate — a function previously believed to require plate tectonics.
- The result widens the search for habitable rocky planets, since worlds without plate tectonics — once dismissed as uninhabitable — now deserve a second look.
Why it matters: Astrobiologists gain an expanded candidate pool for habitable worlds: the Oxford study detected molten rock pooling 15 miles below Mars's surface and stretching hundreds to thousands of miles, suggesting rocky planets previously dismissed for lacking plate tectonics can still regulate climate and recycle elements.
