Ancient water may lie hidden within the largest volcano on Mars, researchers now say, and they speculate that such a setup could also harbor life.
While there is no firm evidence that Mars does or ever has hosted life, one of the prerequisites would be water. The surface of the red planet is bone dry, but several studies have shown liquid water may once have flowed on Mars and could still exist in pockets below the surface.
The Martian volcano Olympus Mons is about three times the height of Mount Everest, with gentle slopes that sprawl across more than 150 miles of the planet surface. The widespread volcanic material suggests the presence of water-formed clay which can reduce friction — an effect seen on Earth at volcanoes in Hawaii.
Olympus Mons soars 15 miles (24 km) above the surface, dwarfing the largest terrestrial volcano, Mauna Loa, which is just 6 miles (9 km) high, including the portion of the volcano that extends underwater to the sea floor.
Read the rest at LiveScience.
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