New satellite data shows that Mount Olympus on Mars was once bordered by the ocean. Researchers reported European Space Agency (ECA).
The height of Mars Olympus is more than 21 km, which makes it the highest peak and highest volcano in the solar system.
ESA scientists have discovered characteristic marks in satellite images of the slopes of Mount Olympus, created by the collision of volcanic lava with water. According to experts, these processes caused huge landslides that stretched more than 1 thousand kilometers from the skirts of the volcano. Similar disasters occurred on a neighboring planet hundreds of millions of years ago.
The researchers noted that similar processes, albeit on a smaller scale, are taking place on Earth. Traces of volcanic landslides and rockfalls can be found in Hawaii and the Canary Islands.
ESA’s findings confirm the hypothesis of French scientists from the University of Paris-Saclay, who suggested that Mount Olympus was a volcanic island in the distant past. According to experts, the shape of the mountain’s steep slopes may indicate that there was once a coastline here. Published scientific studies magazine Earth and Planetary Science Letters.
Previously, scientists had discovered evidence of an ice age on Mars.
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