Latest news with #MichaelManga
Daily Mail
31-07-2025
- Science
- Daily Mail
Russia megaquake triggers tsunami warnings around Pacific
The megaquake off Russia 's coast may have done more than shake the region, it could trigger volcanic eruptions across the Pacific's 'Ring of Fire.' The Ring of Fire is a 25,000-mile chain of volcanoes and earthquake zones that stretches around the Pacific Ocean, home to about 75 percent of the world's active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. The megaquake off Russia 's coast may have done more than shake the region, it could trigger volcanic eruptions across the Pacific's 'Ring of Fire.' The Ring of Fire is a 25,000-mile chain of volcanoes and earthquake zones that stretches around the Pacific Ocean, home to about 75 percent of the world's active volcanoes and frequent earthquakes. Experts warned the 8.8-magnitude quake released enough energy to disturb underground pressure systems far from the epicenter, potentially destabilizing magma chambers beneath active volcanoes along the arc. Michael Manga, a geoscientist at the University of California , Berkeley, told the Daily Mail: 'The volcanoes in volcanic arcs, including Chile, the US Cascades, Japan , Indonesia and Kamchatka, are prone to erupt after earthquakes.' He noted not all volcanoes will be affected, but those in the westernmost part of the arc are more likely to respond. That puts more than 100 volcanoes across Russia, Japan, the Philippines and Indonesia at increased risk. 'The volcanoes in Kamchatka are the most likely to possibly respond. Klyuchevskoy erupted just after the earthquake ,' Manga said. Data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) showed the earthquake struck about 84 miles east-southeast of Kamchatska, Russia at around 7:24pm EST, marking the sixth strongest earthquake ever. It was also believed to be the strongest to strike on the entire planet in 14 years, when a 9.1 megaquake hit northeast Japan and left 19,747 people either dead or missing. Residents in Hawaii were forced to evacuate from coastal areas as the entire island chain braced for the impact to strike. Water was seen receding at around 1.40am ET. The first tsunami waves hit Hawaii at 2.20am ET. Water levels were above four feet in Haleiwa on Oahu's north shore, reaching five feet just minutes later and causing floods. While millions remain under tsunami advisories, experts are also monitoring volcanoes outside of the epicenter. While the overall threat is low, Manga said the quake raised eruption chances by five to 12 percent, meaning a volcano with a one percent yearly risk now faces about 1.1 percent. The elevated threat is predicted to last from two months to two years because the earthquake's impact on underground pressure and magma movement can take time to trigger an eruption. Large earthquakes like the one off Russia's coast can affect volcanoes in several ways, even at great distances. When tectonic plates suddenly shift, they release massive energy that travels through the Earth's crust as seismic waves. These waves can increase stress or pressure within magma chambers or along existing fractures in the crust. In some cases, this added stress can weaken the rock surrounding a magma reservoir or open new pathways for magma to rise. Additionally, the shaking can disrupt gas bubbles inside magma, making it more buoyant and unstable, conditions that favor eruption. Volcanoes that are already active or 'primed,' with magma close to the surface, are the most vulnerable to this kind of triggering. That is what Manga suggested led to the eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano in Kamchatka. 'It may have been active already as temperature anomalies were recorded by satellites in late May, so it could be it that it just became more active,' he said. Located approximately 280 miles north of the regional capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Klyuchevskaya Sopka is one of the tallest volcanoes in the world, rising 15,584 feet in Russia's Kamchatka region. On Wednesday, observers reported explosive activity and streams of lava descending the volcano's western slopes. Scientists had been expecting the eruption, as the volcano's crater had been filling with lava for several weeks, accompanied by intermittent ash plumes. Often referred to as the 'Land of Fire and Ice,' Kamchatka is one of the most volcanically active regions on Earth, home to roughly 300 volcanoes, 29 of which remain active, according to NASA's Earth Observatory. Geographically, the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire stretches from Russia and Japan in the west to the western coast of the US, and down to Antarctica, where it includes Mount Erebus, the southernmost active volcano on Earth. The region also features deep ocean trenches formed by tectonic subduction zones. Because of this vast, interconnected system, a major eruption or earthquake in one part of the Ring of Fire can trigger alerts and concerns around the world. Manga said that US volcanoes along the arc will not respond to the major earthquake. However, there are several that have shown increased activity this year, including the Great Sitkin Volcano in Alaska, which is currently under 'Watch.' The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) shared an update on Tuesday, saying: 'Lava continues to erupt in the summit crater of Great Sitkin Volcano. 'Low-level seismicity continues with occasional small earthquakes and rockfall signals.' Hawaii's Kilauea is also under a 'Watch' due to its latest eruption ending just 10 days ago. 'Current hazards include volcanic gas emissions, along with windblown volcanic glass (Pele's hair) and tephra deposited during earlier eruptive episodes,' the USGS shared in a statement.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Study uncovers source of Mars' redness — a key indicator the planet (maybe) once had life
The first thing most people think of when they consider Mars is its deep red color. The Romans associated the planet with their god of war because it reminded them of blood while the Egyptians called it "Her Desher," meaning "the red one." The planet didn't get such a distinctive, rosy color by accident of course — but for the first time researchers have identified a single mineral they believe is responsible for Martian redness — and that mineral's presence also indicates the potential presence of life. A new study in the journal Nature Communications reveals that Mars is red for very much the same reason it may have once been home to life — namely, that it was a wet planet. This is in line with research from last year that detailed how Mars was covered in bodies of water in its distant past. 'Mars once had liquid water on its surface in rivers, lakes and possibly oceans,' Dr. Michael Manga, the chair of the University of California — Berkeley's Department of Earth and Planetary Science, told Salon at the time. 'We knew that the liquid water being buried deep in the subsurface was one possible solution to the question of where Mars' ancient liquid surface water went.' Mars lost most of that liquid water, which is considered an essential ingredient for life anywhere in the universe. But importantly, this study notes that Mars' redness happened before the water left. So how did a wet planet become so red? It all comes down to ferrihydrite, a poorly crystalline mineral, or a substance where the atoms or molecules are not arranged in well-defined and repeating patterns. It contains iron oxide, a chemical compound humans traditionally associate with a different reddish-orange substance: rust. Indeed, this mineral exists on our planet, often in volcanic settings such as lava caves. Using state-of-the-art equipment, as well as firsthand analyses of Martian dust from the red planet's surface, the researchers found that 'ferrihydrite remains stable under present-day Martian conditions, preserving its poorly crystalline structure.' This in turn suggests that the ferrihydrite 'formed during a cold, wet period on early Mars under oxidative conditions, followed by a transition to the current hyper-arid environment.' In contrast to the conventional wisdom that Mars was continuously dry while its surface oxidized (or was exposed to oxygen), the new study suggests 'ancient Mars experienced aqueous alteration before transitioning to its current desert state.'Dr. Adomas Valantinas, the paper's lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University's Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, explained to Salon that the research team performed extensive spectral analyses on both orbital and rover data in their laboratory. 'We can now be quite confident that ferrihydrite is the dominant iron-bearing mineral causing Mars' distinctive ochre color,' Valentinas said. 'Our research demonstrated that ferrihydrite provides significantly better fits than other iron oxides like hematite, goethite or akaganeite. We also employed Mars simulation experiments and theoretical calculations to show that ferrihydrite is thermodynamically stable on the Martian surface.' Similarly, Valentinas explained that the prevalence of this ferrihydrite proves that Mars was once covered in enough water that it was quite wet. That strengthens arguments suggesting Mars was once home to life. 'The finding is relevant to inferring the conditions of early Mars as the composition of minerals on the Mars surface tell us about the past climate,' Dr. Geronimo Villanueva, the associate director for Strategic Science of the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and co-author of this study, told Salon. 'Importantly, the new findings suggest a wetter and potentially more habitable past for Mars because ferrihydrite forms in the presence of cool water, and at lower temperatures than other previously considered minerals, like hematite.' Villanueva added that scientists already knew Martian dust contains a number of minerals, including iron oxides; this study narrows down the number of potential iron oxides that could cause the distinctive red color to just one, ferrihydrite. 'The presence of ferrihydrite tells us something specific about Mars' past environment,' Valentinas said, describing the cold and pH neutral waters that must have existed to oxidize the soil. 'This suggests that rather than warm conditions, early Mars experienced a cold and wet environment.' To learn this, scientists at the University of Arkansas recreated the arid conditions which exist on Mars, in particular the average temperature of −70 °C and very low water vapor content. Over the course of 40-day laboratory experiments involving dehydration, the scientists learned that ferrihydrite loses some absorbed H2O while maintaining its poorly-crystalline structure. In addition to ferrihydrite the researchers used various quantities of iron oxide phases like magnetite, hematite, feroxyhyte and schwertmannite. Dr. Avi Loeb, a Harvard University astronomer not associated with the study, emphasized the significance of discovering ferrihydrite. 'This material likely formed during water activity on early Mars,' Loeb said. 'Subsequently, Mars became as dry as we see it today, preserving this mineral phase over its surface. The widespread presence of ferrihydrite in the Martian surface materials was not interpreted this way before, and was thought to be the result of dry oxidation late in Mars history.' Loeb, who has long advocated that scientists seriously explore the possible existence of extraterrestrial life, added that he is impressed with the study's potential implications on that question. 'On Earth, the majority of atmospheric oxygen is derived from biological activity, making the nature of surface oxidation important for understanding the potential for past life on Mars,' Loeb said. Despite these impressive findings, Valentinas emphasized that more research needs to be done on this subject. 'Science always leaves room for testing and refinement, so we'll be able to test this hypothesis when the NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return mission brings actual dust samples back to Earth in the 2030s,' Valentinas said. He added that scientists 'still don't know the original source location of the ferrihydrite before it was distributed globally through dust storms, the exact chemical composition of Mars' atmosphere when the ferrihydrite formed, or the precise timing of Mars' oxidation.' In addition to encouraging professional scholars to do research, Valentinas urged ordinary citizens to take a crack at looking at the Martian surface. 'The Mars rover and orbiter data is fully available to the public,' Valentinas said. 'Anyone with access to the internet can download and view the images for themselves under NASA's Planetary Data System.'
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ancient beach on Mars discovered by China's Mars rover: 'This strengthens the case for past habitability'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Today, Mars is a chilly desert of rock and dust — but 4 billion years ago, the planet had rivers, lakes and even oceans with sandy beaches. Data from China's Zhurong rover recently revealed the first evidence of one of those long-lost Mars beaches, finding shallow sandy slopes perfectly preserved about 33 feet (10 meters) beneath the Martian surface. Ground-penetrating radar aboard the rover measured thick layers of sand, sloping gently upward toward the rocky shore, as if washed up by ocean waves. "The structures don't look like sand dunes. They don't look like an impact crater. They don't look like lava flows. That's when we started thinking about oceans," Michael Manga, a University of California, Berkeley, professor of earth and planetary science and co-author of the study, said in a statement. "The orientation of these features are parallel to what the old shoreline would have been. They have both the right orientation and the right slope to support the idea that there was an ocean for a long period of time to accumulate the sand-like beach." Zhurong spent a year, from May 2021 to May 2022, trundling along the base of a steeply-sloped rock outcrop at the edge of a wide, flat plain. From the rover's point of view on the ground, it's hard to tell, but this ancient shoreline on Mars seemed to lie inside a 2,050-mile-wide (3,300-kilometer-wide) impact crater called Utopia Basin. Utopia Basin is, in fact, the largest known crater in the entire solar system. Scientists had speculated Utopia Basin might once have held an ancient ocean, and they thought the escarpment overlooking Zhurong's route might once have been its shoreline. And indeed, based on data from Zhurong, which researchers on Earth are still poring over, that speculation was right. Along Zhurong's 1.2-mile (1.9-kilometer) route, its ground-penetrating radar beamed radio waves 262 feet (80 meters) down into the Martian ground. The way those radio waves reflected back to the instrument revealed underground features they came into contact with, like the boundaries between layers of rock and sediment. Thirty-three feet (10 meters) beneath the surface, the radar revealed smooth, gently-sloping layers of sand, several yards thick. Those layers appear to run parallel to the rocky cliff, and they rise toward that cliff at a shallow 15-degree slope — which is typical of beaches here on planet Earth. The buried beach could represent the first evidence of a true ocean from Mars' ancient past, and its presence means the Red Planet must have had an ocean for millions of years — long enough to leave behind the thick layers of sand Zhurong's radar measured. And that ocean must have been fed by rivers, the scientists reason, as those rivers would have dumped sediment into the ocean. Waves would eventually have spread that resulting sediment along the shore, forming a beach that'd have been strikingly familiar to us. "Shorelines are great locations to look for evidence of past life," Benjamin Cardenas, a geoscientist at Pennsylvania State University and co-author of the study, said in a statement. "It's thought that the earliest life on Earth began at locations like this, near the interface of air and shallow water." (It's not known exactly where or how life on Earth began, but shorelines like this one are a possibility, along with hydrothermal vents on the deep ocean floor.) Related Stories: — China's Mars rover Zhurong finds possible shoreline of ancient Red Planet ocean — What makes Mars the 'Red' Planet? Scientists have some new ideas — Perseverance Mars rover finds 'one-of-a-kind treasure' on Red Planet's Silver Mountain The discovery was a stroke of geological luck; Zhurong's beach would probably have eroded away into something unrecognizable over the last 3.5 billion years if it hadn't been buried beneath those 33 feet of rocky, dusty debris from asteroid impacts, volcanoes and dust storms. "This strengthens the case for past habitability in this region on Mars," Hai Liu, a professor with the School of Civil Engineering and Transportation at Guangzhou University, a co-author of the study and a core member of the science team for the Tianwen-1 mission, which included China's first Mars rover, Zhurong, said in the statement. The researchers published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
BBC News
25-02-2025
- Science
- BBC News
Mars was once home to sandy beaches like Earth, new study suggests
The mysteries of the planets in our solar system have fascinated scientists for a new discovery could draw us one step closer to finding out whether life once existed on Mars. A Chinese rover that landed on the red planet in 2021 has found evidence of underground beaches in an area where an ancient sea is believed to have existed long ago. It provides more evidence that the planet had a large ocean in the past. The rover explored the planet for a year between May 2021 and May travelled across an area thought to be an ancient shoreline which existed roughly four billion years ago when Mars had a much warmer climate. The rover detected underground objects on the red planet, with images showing thick layers of material which looked like sand. These layers were sloped in a direction similar to beaches on Earth where the sea meets the land just below the water."The structures don't look like sand dunes. They don't look like an impact crater. They don't look like lava flows. That's when we started thinking about oceans," said Michael Manga who is a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley. Researchers say the existence of beaches suggests Mars once had a large, ice-free ocean and possibly life, although the planet is too cold today for water to flow as a liquid. "The beaches would have been formed by similar processes to those on Earth - waves and tides," said Hai Liu who is one of team members who worked on the study. "Such oceans would have profoundly influenced Mars' climate, shaped its landscape and created environments potentially suitable for life to emerge and thrive."
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Ancient Beaches Found on Mars Reveal The Red Planet Once Had Oceans
Mars – dusty, dry, and desert-clad – was once so rich in water it had not just lakes, but oceans, according to a new study. Observations using ground-penetrating radar have revealed underground features consistent with beaches on the red planet, 4 billion years ago. It's some of the best evidence to date that Mars was once so soggy as to host a northern sea. The research team has named that sea Deuteronilus. "We're finding places on Mars that used to look like ancient beaches and ancient river deltas," says geologist Benjamin Cardenas of The Pennsylvania State University. "We found evidence for wind, waves, no shortage of sand – a proper, vacation-style beach." The water history of Mars is a huge puzzle. At a glance, the planet looks as though it has never seen a drop of liquid. Its global dust storms are legendary. It would be easy to believe that Mars has always been a ball of dry rock; yet a growing, and overwhelming, body of evidence shows that Mars didn't just have liquid water on its surface once upon a time, but that the liquid flowed in abundance. So there's no longer any question that water existed on Mars. But there are still a lot of other questions. How much water was there? How long ago did it vanish? Where did it go, and how? "Oceans are important on planets. Oceans have a large effect on climate, they shape the surface of planets, and they are potentially habitable environments," geophysicist Michael Manga of the University of California, Berkeley told ScienceAlert. "Hence the 'follow the water' theme of Mars exploration. Most exciting to me was the chance to look beneath the surface at a place we think there could have been an ocean and to see what we think are beach deposits." Using data collected by the Chinese National Space Administration's (CNSA) Zhurong Mars rover, a joint Chinese-American team led by engineer Jianhui Li and geologist Hai Liu of Guangzhou University has now given us a deeper answer to the first question, at least: enough to fill an ocean. As it traveled along the Utopia Planitia, Zhurong used ground-penetrating radar (GPR) to take measurements of the rock up to 80 meters (260 feet) below the surface of Mars. This technology sends radio waves into the ground; when they encounter materials of varying densities, they bounce back in different ways, allowing the generation of a three-dimensional map of structures deep below ground. A previous study based on Zhurong data had found features that suggested a shoreline, but that interpretation was not confirmed. The GPR data revealed thick layers of material along Zhurong's route, sloped upwards towards the supposed shoreline at an angle of 15 degrees, just like ancient buried shorelines on Earth. "The structures don't look like sand dunes. They don't look like an impact crater. They don't look like lava flows. That's when we started thinking about oceans," Manga says. "The orientations of these features are parallel to what the old shoreline would have been. They have both the right orientation and the right slope to support the idea that there was an ocean for a long period of time to accumulate the sand-like beach." These features imply a large, liquid ocean, fed by rivers dumping sediment, as well as waves and tides. This also suggests that Mars had a water cycle for millions of years – the length of time such deposits take to form on Earth. Such deposits would not form at the edges of a lake. "The bigger the body of water, the bigger the tides can get. And there is more space and time for wind to make bigger waves. Bigger tides and waves help shape beaches," Manga told ScienceAlert. Mars doesn't have Earth's Moon, which exerts the biggest influence on our tides here on Earth. But the Sun also exerts an influence on Earth's ocean tides. Although ocean tides on Mars might look quite different from what we're used to here at home, they would have existed. And surface waves are generated by wind, which Mars has aplenty. The new discovery bolsters the case for past habitable conditions on Mars for life as we know it, and suggests a place to look for signs of ancient life on the red planet, if we can get there with the right equipment. "Coastal environments where there is water, land, and atmosphere all together are potentially habitable environments. Knowing where and when those environments existed can help guide where we explore and how we interpret other observations like those from satellites," Manga said. "Shorelines are great locations to look for evidence of past life. It's thought that the earliest life on Earth began at locations like this, near the interface of air and shallow water." Recent research by Manga and his colleagues suggests that much of Mars' water may have been swallowed up into its interior, where it lurks today as vast, unreachable liquid reservoirs. This new paper could be the next piece of the puzzle: the presence of sufficient liquid water to fill those reservoirs during Mars's fascinating, mysterious past. The next step, though, will be to interrogate the idea of liquid oceans further, and try to model those alien waves and tides. The team's research has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A Rare Alignment of 7 Planets Is Taking Place in The Sky This Week Rock Fragments Reveal The Moment The Moon Turned Solid Black Hole at The Center of Our Galaxy Seen 'Bubbling' With Activity
