Investigating the Red Planet's volcanic past Images from
European Space Agency's Mars Express have provided new insight
into volcanic activity on the Red Planet. March 17, 2008
Provided by ESA, Noordwijk, Netherlands March 17, 2008 This
image shows Daedalia Planum, south of Arsia Mons, a southern
volcano of the Tharsis Montes. mars Express captured this view
July 19, 2005. Photo by ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum) A new
analysis of impact cratering data from Mars reveals that the
planet has undergone a series of global volcanic upheavals.
These violent episodes spewed lava and water onto the surface,
sculpting the landscape that ESA's Mars Express looks down on
today. Using images from the High Resolution Stereo Camera
(HRSC) on Mars Express, Gerhard Neukum, Freie Universität
Berlin, Germany, and colleagues are discovering the history of
the Red Planet's geological activity. "We can now determine the
ages of large regions and resurfacing events on the planet,"
says Neukum. Resurfacing occurs when volcanic erupti