What Happens During an Earthquake on Mars? | Marsquakes Explained

We know what happens during an earthquake on Earth... but what about an earthquake on... Mars?
Join Hank Green for a fun new episode of SciShow where he'll dive into the shaky world of Marsquakes. Let's go!

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

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[PigeonFlare]

It’s crazy to think about vast ancient oceans just disappearing like on Mars.

[qarljohnson]

It will also be rewarding to look at much of Mars' topography with an eye as to how early Martian oceans intermittently turned to glaciers, melted... multiple times, until the water evaporated/blew away with the atmosphere.
There are many Martian features that emulate the Washington State scab lands, which were created by melting glaciers, releasing vast trapped lakes in massive floods.

[drkv]

Wouldn't it be something if a surprise mantle plume created a new volcano that was active for a while?

[AceSpadeThePikachu]

The heart of the Red Planet still beats even as its surface has frozen, dried and rusted.

[ADEpoch]

So the next questions I would have are, if it IS geologically active. Why doesn’t it have a magnetosphere? And what about the methane they keep detecting that people said could be caused by life? Is it possible it’s just a part of these geological processes instead? I’m looking forward to future developments here 😊

[curtislindsey]

I'm not used to subdued Hank anymore, lol. Lately I've been watching his channel and vlogbros where chaos reigns.

[RaimoKangasniemi]

Pohl crater is named after the legendary US science fiction author (and agent, editor and former Communist party activist) Frederik Pohl(1919-2013), whose very long career lasted from 1937 to 2011. Among his Martian works is the novel Man Plus(1976) about a US astronaut-turned-cyborg on alternate timeline Mars (USA landed on the Moon in 1960, but Britain and Pakistan are part of the Soviet Bloc).

[polyrhythmnix]

Jeez, Mars has been volcanically active more recently than I thought 😳

[benharris]

It’s crazy to think the last time a volcano erupted on Mars humans were just forming the beginning of civilization

[TheSwamper]

If Mars was still watery today, I wonder how much greater the push would be to land a human there.

[PukeSkinwalker]

Life likely exists on Mars underground with geothermal energy as the main source of energy instead of photosynthesis so it likely resembles deep underground ocean-like life if it exists at all.

[ja-canadian]

Couldn't the quakes on Mars be "Frost Quakes". We get Frost Quakes in Canada when the temperature drops sharply and the ground Frost moves deeper.
The Quakes from Frost can set off Seismometers and feel like a real Quake.
So considering how cold Mars is, and knowing that Mars has weather that could cause changes in temperature and might cause the upper layers to freeze variably at different depths.

[jayplay]

OMG I just realised why Spock is a "vulcan" because like a volcano, they are calm and reserved until they eventually explode

[jakobraahauge]

you look good, Hank! And Martian quakes actually surprised me. not a huge cognitive dissonance, but a wonderful surprise!

[Ilix]

It’s too bad Pohl’s Crater wasn’t on one of the poles. Then it could be Pohl’s pole crater.

[HollowDog]

I read this as. "Are marshmallows causing underground lava lakes?"

[FloozieOne]

Poor Mars. It's little plume shows magma down below but only a little bit, maybe just in a few places. So, we thought it was dead but it is screaming out "I'm alive! I'm alive! Please let me prove it because I don't want to be dead."

[attemptedunkindness]

Turns out Martians do exist, they just all moved to their sweet lava lamp core to hang out. Personally, the Martians consider Humanity lame for wanting to live on the non-lava lamp having surface of Mars like a bunch of squares.

[apollodash]

“Dinosaurs never made it to Mars”…. Deep Time: Hold my beer.

[rubenramirez]

I remember when the paper came out because it came out a day making a research paper for my geology class proposing the theory of a mantle plume to explain the seismic activity under insight 😮