Geophysicists have published an analysis of the seismograph data of the SEIS automatic station InSight, which has been operating on Mars since 2018. They were able to analyze the subsurface layers of the planet at a depth of 200 meters. It turned out that regolith, loose volcanic rock and solid lava flows lie under the surface of the Red Planet.

The data was collected on February 3, 2020, when there was a weak wind on Mars that did not interfere with seismic sensors. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology used a technique developed on Earth to explore “earthquake-prone sites and to study underground structure.”

Unlike Earth, Mars has never had active plate tectonics. The planet was formed by phases of active volcanism that covered large areas of a plateau of basaltic lava.

Researchers found that about 3 m of sandy regolith is located under the surface of Mars at the InSight site, after 20 meters of breccia formed as a result falls of meteorites, then there is a layer of Amazonian basalts, sedimentary rocks, a layer of Amazonian and Hesperian basalts. Scientists suggest that sedimentary rocks lie below 175 meters.

According to the authors of the work, the uppermost volcanic rocks (basalts) formed about 1.7 billion years ago, and the deepest - 3.6 billion years ago ... These layers are separated by sedimentary rocks that formed when the climate on Mars changed, it became drier and colder.

The full study is published in Nature Communications.

The InSight probe has already collected data on 500 Marsquakes using a seismometer SEIS. Their maximum amplitude is 3.6 points on the Richter scale. And volcanic eruptions on Mars could have occurred quite recently - in the last 50 thousand years.

Scientists have already published three detailed works that describe new ideas regarding the composition and evolution of the crust, mantle and core of Mars. They used seismic data collected by InSight.

The InSight mission will last until December 2022.

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