Mysterious cavities on Mars: what hides beneath the surface of the Red Planet? (3 photos)

For over half a century, humanity has been exploring Mars using orbiters, rovers, and landers. During this time, we have learned an incredible amount about the Red Planet—incomparably more than in all the previous centuries of observations through ground-based telescopes.





Mars in natural color, captured by the UAE's Al Amal orbiter on January 3, 2022

But some Martian mysteries remain unanswered. And the more we look at this neighboring planet, the more questions arise...

The image below shows strange depressions discovered south of the Great Northern Plain (the largest lowland on Mars, surrounding the north polar region), near the edge of an ancient highland.



This image was taken on January 21, 2022, by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The structure of these natural formations immediately catches the eye: the faults clearly indicate a collapse toward a single point—as if the surface had collapsed inward, and the soil had begun to "creep" toward some hidden center.

On Earth, similar structures are found above subglacial volcanoes. The mechanism for their formation is simple: when an eruption approaches and heat melts the base of the glacier, it subsides and cracks in precisely this characteristic pattern—radial faults directed toward the heat source.



But here a mystery arises.

Scientists believe that vast reserves of subsurface water ice are hidden beneath the Martian highlands captured in the photo, as this would explain the collapse pattern. However, there are no obvious signs of recent volcanic activity in this region. No lava flows, no volcanic cones nearby.

What then caused the ice collapse? Could Mars remain volcanically active to this day? If so, the activity must be much weaker than on Earth and must be deep beneath the surface, remaining undetectable to our instruments. Or perhaps there is some other mechanism we haven't yet discovered?

Mars clearly knows how to keep its secrets. And once we solve this mystery, at least two new ones will appear in its place.