Mars Volcano And Earth's Dinosaurs Died Almost The Same Time, Research Reveals

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Earth experienced the Cretaceous-Paleogene killing causing the deaths of a massive population of species 50 million years ago. The death of dinosaurs is similar to the fortune of Mars volcano.

According to Mail Online, the Mars volcano, which was formed within billions of years also burst out its last burning breaths. NASA conducted a new research involving the giant Martian volcano, Arsia Mons. Scientists analyzed the activity of the volcano's entire lifespan. They studied features within the bowl-shaped dimple called caldera located on top of the volcano.

To obtain data, the team utilized high-resolution imaging, which was transformed to the context camera of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The study discovered that Arsia Mons delivered a single new lava spill from its summit every one to three million years. The last activity indicator of Mars volcano was believed that it happened almost 50 million years ago.

The Mars volcano study's result details were published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters on Jan. 15. Jacob Richardson presented the findings at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas on March 20. He is a postdoctoral researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Richardson and colleagues estimated the maximum activity occurred at the summit of Arsia Mons. They found that it possibly took place almost 150 million years ago, which is during the Jurassic period on Earth. The Mars volcano then expired at around the same time as the human planet’s dinosaurs.

"It's possible, though, that the last volcanic vent or two might have been active in the past 50 million years, which is very recent in geological terms," Richardson said. An accurate assessment of when the Mars volcano was alive is still difficult to attain until now. However, this is not the first study that compared Arsia Mons' activity and life on Earth.