Volcano on Mars, dinosaurs on Earth became extinct at same time

A digital-image mosaic of Mars' Tharsis plateau shows the extinct volcano Arsia Mons. Photo: courtesy NASA/JPL/USGS

The volcano on Mars went dormant the same time when dinosaurs on Earth became extinct, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) researchers.

Before, the history of Arsia Mons, which is one of the three humongous volcanoes on Mars, had remained a mystery. However, new technology has helped researchers uncover the time when Arsia Mons became dormant.

Arsia Mons stopped spewing out volcano about 50 million years ago, it has been revealed now. This is precisely the same time when dinosaurs went extinct on Earth.

The findings were presented by Jacob Richardson, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, during the 48th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, on March 20

“We estimate that the peak activity for the volcanic field at the summit of Arsia Mons probably occurred approximately 150 million years ago—the late Jurassic period on Earth—and then died out around the same time as Earth’s dinosaurs,” said Jacob Richardson in a statement.

“It’s possible, though, that the last volcanic vent or two might have been active in the past 50 million years, which is very recent in geological terms.”

The team also investigated the lava flows from Arsia Mons’s 29 volcanic vents and used crater counting to estimate the ages of the flows.

It was revealed that the oldest flow dates back to 200 million years and latest flows occurred about 50 million years ago.