Explanation:
Is this a mud volcano on Mars?
If so, could it be dredging up martian microbes?
This
strange possibility has been
suggested recently and seems to fit several recent observations of Mars.
First of all, hills like this seem to better resemble
mud volcanoes
on Earth than
lava volcanoes and
impact craters on Mars.
Next, the
pictured dome has an unusually textured surface consistent with fractured ice.
Infrared images from space indicate that hills like this cool more quickly than surrounding rock, consistent with a dried mud composition.
The hills also reflect colors consistent with a composition that formed in the presence of water.
Finally, unusual
plumes of gas containing methane have been found on Mars with
unknown origin.
These gas plumes could conceivably have been liberated by
mud volcanoes, were the initially warm mud to contain
methane-producing microbes drifting in a previously unobservable
underground lake.
A candidate mud volcano over 100 meters across is
pictured above in the northern plains of Mars.
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