Mars may be geologically quiet today, but it was once bustling with tectonic and volcanic activity. A new study shows that the ancient surface of Mars is dotted with 63 volcanoes, each responsible for transforming the Red Planet’s rocky geography. The discovery fundamentally changes researchers’ understanding of Mars’ mysterious past and offers a rare glimpse into the planet’s early evolution.

According to an article published Monday Nature Astronomy magazine, Geologists and astronomers from the United States and China used data from the older Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Odyssey Orbiter and the super-powered Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to map the ancient volcanic landscape of Mars. The “diverse volcanism” they found consisted of four types of features: caldera complexes, pyroclastic shields, stratovolcanoes and volcanic domes. Caldera complexes are known as destructive volcanic structures due to the characteristic collapse of the surface and the absence of raised edges, while volcanic domes have a distinctive convex shape. Pyroclastic shields and stratovolcanoes have a more classical “volcanic shape”, with erosion-cut valleys on their sides.

Most of these objects belonged to the southern hemisphere of Mars, in what we now call the Eridania region. Because of their proximity to Eridania’s large basins, researchers believe that volcanoes, unlike the region’s deep-seated crustal magnetism patterns, play a role in crustal reworking, where the planet’s outer layer, or crust, is pulled into the underlying mantle. IT . . As the crust melted, it became a component of Mars’ magmatic evolution; researchers say this is similar to Earth’s pre-plate tectonic processes during the watery Archean Eon.

The development of the Mars canon allows scientists to improve their understanding of early planetary evolution even by looking at other celestial bodies. As our planet has undergone extensive tectonic reworking and erosion over its 4.54 billion-year lifespan, Mars provides a “natural window” into the planet’s development that we do not have on Earth, the researchers note. Earth’s tectonic movements can help scientists understand geological processes on the Red Planet, while Mars can provide a starting point for studies of planetary geology in the Solar System and beyond.

The discovery of ancient Martian volcanoes could also boost researchers’ efforts to find traces of past extraterrestrial life. The oldest microbial life on Earth is thought to have emerged through hydrothermal vents from our planet’s crust or deep seas about 4 billion years ago. Ancient life might have arisen in a similar way if the Red Planet’s volcanic features had cycled material between the Martian surface and mantle.