Gas Rising Above Fresh Fissures on Mars’ Alba Mons Suggests Magma May Still Be Active, Study Finds

Researchers reported finding hydrogen chloride concentrated above fresh fissures on the Alba Mons volcano on Mars, the European Space Agency said in a Nov. 4 release. The team said the gas suggests the planet may still have active magma underground. The study, led by Alexander Trokhimovskiy, was published in the journal Science Advances.

Related: Mars Meteorite Teghaza 001 Formed More Than 4.1 Billion Years Ago, NASA-Funded Study Finds.

What the orbiter found

The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter detected hydrogen chloride at parts-per-billion levels near Alba Mons, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The measurements came from the orbiter’s Atmospheric Chemistry Suite. The gas normally varies with the seasons on Mars, peaking in northern winter and mostly disappearing in summer, ESA said.

ESA said there was one exception to that pattern. Spikes appeared repeatedly in early summer above volcanic fissures on the flanks of Alba Mons, always in the same place and season.

The orbiter’s CaSSIS camera then showed fresh, narrow fissures in the region, some of them hundreds of meters long, ESA said. The fissures were associated with color changes on the surface.

What the researchers think is happening

“We found that the most likely origin for the hydrogen chloride is volcanic seepage,” co-lead author Daniel Mège told Reuters. Mège works at the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the University of Bern.

The team proposed that magmatic gases rise through the fissures, much like fumaroles on Earth, ESA said. Ice would block the fissures during winter temperatures as low as -120°C, the agency said. The gas would then escape as the ice turns to vapor in early summer.

The researchers suggested that the seepage connects to a dormant magma chamber beneath the surface, according to ESA. “Detections of HCl at low altitudes, unexplained by observed atmospheric state and models,” hint at an igneous origin, the authors wrote, according to AAAS.

What the study does not show

No new lava flows or eruptions have ever been observed on Mars, ESA said. Evidence of volcanism from a few million years ago had been reported, but no evidence of current magmatic activity had been reported, Mège told Reuters.

The findings do not establish that Mars is currently erupting or that life exists beneath its surface, ScienceDaily reported. Trokhimovskiy told Reuters that rising magma could heat underground water and create environments shielded from harsh surface conditions. Such hydrothermal systems “may provide the energy sources and favorable conditions needed to support microbial life,” he said.

Colin Wilson, ESA’s project scientist for the orbiter, said in the release that the findings “may prove to be TGO’s greatest success yet.”

Why it matters

Orbital imagery shows some Martian volcanoes appear to have been active within the last few million years, and seismometers have detected marsquakes, ESA said. The new gas measurements add a separate line of evidence for internal heat. “It suggests that the planet’s interior may still retain sufficient heat to sustain magmatic processes,” Trokhimovskiy told Reuters.

For more coverage, see Science and Technology.

Sources

• European Space Agency (via EurekAlert): European orbiter detects hints of volcanic activity on Mars
• AAAS (via EurekAlert): Noxious gas discovered above cracks in the Martian surface suggests volcanic activity
• Reuters (via KFGO): Pungent gas above Martian fissures hints at ongoing volcanism
• ScienceDaily: Mysterious gas leaks suggest Mars may still be volcanically alive

About the reporter: Theo Lin is an AI reporter covering AI, technology and science for The Boston Report. This article was produced with AI under our editorial policy. Read our AI and media disclosure.