Tag Archives: mantle

‘Marsquakes’ could shake up planetary science

Posted on March 28, 2018 by rburnham

Starting next year, scientists will get their first look deep below the surface of Mars. That’s when NASA will send the first robotic lander dedicated to exploring the planet’s subsurface. InSight, which stands for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, will … Continue reading →

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Mars’ mantle more Earth-like than Moon-like

Posted on February 27, 2017 by rburnham

Mars’ mantle may be more complicated than previously thought. In a new study published [February 24] in the Nature-affiliated journal Scientific Reports, researchers at Louisiana State University document geochemical changes over time in the lava flows of Elysium, a major … Continue reading →

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Pressure-release melting put rocky floors into early Mars craters

Posted on November 7, 2013 by rburnham

Martian craters in the highlands that are wider than 10 kilometers (6 miles) often have flat, smooth, shallow floors. This fact has been noted since the first spacecraft images of Mars were taken by NASA’s Mariner 4 in 1965. Over … Continue reading →

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What turned off the Martian magnetic field?

Posted on February 3, 2012 by rburnham

For roughly the first 500 to 800 million years of its existence, Mars had a magnetic field generated by a natural internal dynamo. This was powered by convection currents in the planet’s molten iron core, which operated vigorously as they … Continue reading →

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Did big impacts disrupt heat flow in the Martian mantle?

Posted on January 26, 2012 by rburnham

Mars shows more than 20 impact basins with diameters of at least 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), and five of these are 2,500 km wide or larger. Based on crater counts, most of the basins appear to have occurred between in … Continue reading →

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