Scientists have detected seismic waves propagating through the core of Mars for the first time, a study reveals on Monday based on data collected by the US space probe InSight, whose mission to the planet ended in December.
The probe measured the properties of the Martian core, one of the layers in the planet’s interior, and the information obtained allowed the researchers to conclude that the core would consist of a completely liquid iron alloy with a high percentage of sulfur and oxygen.
New clues are expected from the authors of the study, published this Monday in the journal PNAS of the US National Academy of Sciences, about how Mars formed and differed geologically from Earth.
Mars, unlike Earth, does not have a magnetic field that protects it from solar winds (energy particles that originate in the solar corona).
Scientists, however, hypothesize that the “red planet” had a magnetic shield similar to the field created by the Earth’s core due to traces of magnetism in the crust, which may indicate that Mars gradually evolved to suit environmental conditions. moving from a potentially habitable planet to a planet hostile to life.
An international scientific team that included seismologists tracked the development of two distant seismic events on Mars, one caused by an aftershock and the other by a strong impact, and identified seismic waves propagating through the planet’s core.
By comparing the time it took seismic waves to travel through Mars with the waves that remained in the mantle, the layer surrounding the core, and combining that information with other seismic and geophysical measurements, the team estimated the density and compressibility of the material that Mars passes through. Waves travel, earthquakes “travel,” the University of Maryland in the US, which took part in the study, said in a statement.
According to the researchers, Mars will have a completely liquid core, unlike Earth, which has a liquid outer core and a solid inner core.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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