ExoMars Orbiter Detects 330-Foot HCl Fissures on Mars's Alba Mons, Suggesting Active Magma
Updated
Updated · National Geographic · Apr 11
ExoMars Orbiter Detects 330-Foot HCl Fissures on Mars's Alba Mons, Suggesting Active Magma
3 articles · Updated · National Geographic · Apr 11
Summary
Hydrogen chloride bursts detected by ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter cluster on the northern flank of Alba Mons, where researchers linked the gas to several fissures about 330 feet long.
Those pulses stand out because Mars’s known seasonal HCl cycle mainly affects the warmer southern hemisphere; the northern signals are sharp, localized and recur in summer over the same volcano.
Orbital imagery suggests the cracks may connect to vertical magma sheets beneath youthful lava flows, raising the possibility that molten rock is venting gas through the surface.
The study stops short of proof: HCl could also come from hydrothermal reactions or trapped underground gas, and NASA’s InSight lander found no convincing magmatic seismic signals from Alba Mons or Tharsis.
Even so, the findings add to evidence that Mars may not be fully volcanically dead, with implications for sporadic future eruptions and subsurface habitats that could support microbial life.