Mars canyon shows ongoing tectonic activity
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The gist
Scientists report that ancient faults beneath Mars's Valles Marineris canyon can still rupture and cause marsquakes.
The finding challenges the view of Mars as a geologically dead world.
Background
Valles Marineris is the largest canyon system in the solar system, stretching more than 2,500 miles (4,000 km), about nine times the length of the Grand Canyon. For decades scientists assumed Mars was geologically inactive, even though its surface shows signs of a volcanic past. The new study, by researchers at Columbia University and Imperial College London, used seismic data from NASA's InSight lander, a mission that ended in 2022 but whose data is still yielding findings. Mars has no moving tectonic plates, yet the researchers say its billions-year-old faults remain weak enough to slip under present-day stresses from cooling and nearby Tharsis volcanic activity.
How it unfolded
- Aug 25, 2021NASA's InSight lander recorded marsquake S0976a, which researchers later traced to a strike-slip rupture on an ancient fault 20 to 40 kilometers beneath western Valles Marineris.
- Oct 21, 2026A study published in Nature Communications reported that Valles Marineris is still tectonically active billions of years after it formed, based on seismic data.
- Nov 1, 2026Unica Radio reported that InSight data reveals a Martian earthquake linked to the rupture of a fault in Valles Marineris.
- Nov 4, 2026Coverage reported that Valles Marineris is still tectonically active today, citing direct seismic evidence from S0976a.
Who’s saying what
- Researchers
- The study team says S0976a was a strike-slip rupture where crust blocks slid sideways along an ancient fault, and that meteoroid impacts and landslides were ruled out because no fresh crater or new landslide appeared in post-event satellite images.
- Researchers
- The team says ancient faults on Mars can still rupture even without active plate tectonics, and that the canyon is not just a dead fossil landscape.
- Skeptics
- Some commenters on daily.dev questioned whether the tectonic activity is actually novel news.
Still unverified
Community reaction on daily.dev was reported as mixed (20% positive, 55% mixed, 25% skeptical), including skepticism about whether the tectonic activity is actually novel news.