Scientists announced the discovery of a new giant volcano on Mars located near the planet’s equator, an area that has been imaged repeatedly by orbiting spacecraft since Mariner 9 in 1971. The region is known as Noctis Labyrinthus (Labyrinth of the Night) and could also contain a buried sheet of glacier ice, making the site an attractive option in the search for signs of ancient life.
The yet to be named volcano can be found in one of Mars’ most iconic regions, at the boundary between Noctis Labyrinthus and the massive canyons of Valles Marineris, or Mariner Valley. This volcano is believed to have been active from ancient times until relatively recently, due to its gigantic size and complex modification history.
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This area of Mars is known to have a wide variety of hydrated minerals spanning a long stretch of Martian history. A volcanic setting for these minerals had long been suspected. So, it may not be too surprising to find a volcano here. In some sense, this large volcano is a long-sought ‘smoking gun’,” said Sourabh Shubham, a graduate student at the University of Maryland’s Department of Geology.
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