Researchers believe they have found several clumps on Mars left over from giant impacts with “protoplanets” that occurred about 4.5 billion years ago. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
New research suggests that giant impact structures, including potential remnants of ancient “protoplanets,” may be lurking deep beneath the surface of Mars. The mysterious structures, perfectly preserved in the Red Planet's motionless interior for billions of years, may date back to the early days of the solar system.
In a new study published August 28 in the journal Science, scientists analyzed “marsquake” data collected by NASA’s InSight lander, which tracked tremors beneath the surface of Mars from 2018 to 2022, when it failed prematurely due to dust blocking its solar panels. By watching these marsquakes vibrate through the Red Planet’s still mantle, the scientists found several previously unseen clumps of material that were significantly denser than the surrounding material.
Researchers have identified dozens of potential structures up to 2.5 miles (4 km) across at different depths in Mars' mantle, which consists of 960 miles (1,550 km) of solid rock that can reach temperatures of 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit (1,500 degrees Celsius).
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“We’ve never seen the interior of a planet in such fine detail and clarity before,” lead study author Constantinos Charalambous, a planetary scientist at Imperial College London, said in a NASA statement. “We’re seeing a mantle strewn with ancient fragments.”
Based on the size and depth of the hidden objects, the researchers believe that these structures were formed by a collision with Mars about 4.5 billion years ago, at the dawn of the solar system. Some of these objects were likely protoplanets — giant rocks that could have turned into full-fledged planets if left alone, the researchers write.
The researchers first noticed the hidden structures when they discovered that some marsquake signals took longer to travel through some parts of the mantle than others. By tracking these signals, they found areas that were denser than the surrounding rock, suggesting that these areas did not have a source there.
Researchers have identified dozens of impact structures in the mantle of Mars by analyzing how vibrations from marsquakes propagated through the planet's interior.
Mars is a single-plate planet, meaning its crust remains completely intact, unlike Earth, which is divided into tectonic plates. As crustal fragments subduct across plate boundaries, they sink into the mantle, causing molten rock within our planet to rise and fall through convection. However, this does not happen on Mars, meaning the mantle is stationary and does not completely melt.
The newly discovered spots are further evidence that the interior of Mars is much less active than the interior of Earth.
“Their survival to this day tells us that the mantle of Mars evolved slowly over billions of years,” Charalambous said. “On Earth, such features may well have been largely erased.”
NASA's InSight lander has recorded more than 1,300 Marsquakes on the Red Planet between 2018 and 2022.
Because Mars has no tectonic activity, marsquakes are caused by landslides, rock fractures, or meteorite impacts, which are common on the planet's surface. These tremors have also been used to reveal other hidden features beneath the Red Planet's surface, including a giant subsurface ocean discovered using InSight data last year.
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In total, InSight collected data on 1,319 Marsquakes during its nearly four-year mission. However, scientists were still surprised that they were able to map the planet's interior in such detail.
“We knew Mars was a time capsule containing a record of its early formation, but we didn't realise how clearly we would be able to see it with InSight,” said study co-author Tom Pike, a space exploration engineer at Imperial College London.
Harry BakerNavigate Social LinksSenior Staff Writer
Harry is a senior writer for Live Science based in the UK. Before becoming a journalist, he studied marine biology at the University of Exeter. He covers a wide range of topics, including space exploration, planetology, space weather, climate change, animal behaviour and palaeontology. His recent work on solar maximum won the 2024 Aerospace Media Awards in the Best Space Story category and was shortlisted for the 2023 NCTJ Awards for Excellence in the Breaking News category. He also writes Live Science’s weekly series Earth from Space.
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