Dramatic 3D images of ancient lava tubes on the Martian volcano, Pavonis Mons, have been captured by the Mars Express spacecraft.
Lava tubes are produced when lava on the top of a lava flow cools and forms a crust, while the subsurface lava remains molten. This molten lava continues to flow until the lava source is exhausted. In the case of Pavonis Mons, researchers believe the roofs of these tubes eventually collapsed, leaving long channels in the planet's surface.
Pavonis Mons is the central of three volcanoes in the Tharsis Montes range. The northern volcano, Ascraeus Mons, also has lava tubes.
The longest tube in the new images – released by the European Space Agency – stretches almost 60 kilometres, while some others on the planet snake for hundreds of kilometres. The Mars Global Surveyor probe has also found lava tubes near the Red Planet's largest volcano, Olympus Mons. The longest lava tube on Earth stretches about 90 kilometres.
Mars enthusiasts on have proposed using Martian lava tubes that have not caved in as potential habitats for humans since they could be a natural radiation shield and may also contain frozen water.
Mars Express has been orbiting the Red Planet since 25 December 2003. It took the image shown on 2 October 2004, but the image was released on Tuesday.
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18:53 05 September 2008
