Mars volcano, Earth's dinosaurs went extinct about the same time

New NASA research reveals that the giant Martian shield volcano Arsia Mons produced one new lava flow at its summit every 1 to 3 million years during the final peak of activity. The last volcanic activity there ceased about 50 million years ago—around the time of Earth's Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, when large numbers of our planet's plant and animal species (including dinosaurs) went extinct.
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"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, a postdoctoral researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "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."
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Read more at: phys.org...

What are the odds? The peak activity of the giant Martian shield volcano Arsia Mons was 150 millions years ago, and then died out at about the same time that Earth's Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction which wiped out dinosaurs.

Could there have been a link between the events that occurred on Mars, and Earth?

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

PErhaps yes. Did something happen in the solar system to cause both event? Or even cooler was the volcano of such powerfull destruction that it sent matter straight to earth and caused the destruction?(doubt it)Or maybe just coincidence.

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

Could there have been a link between the events that occurred on Mars, and Earth?

What, like Mars attempted for the last time to pop it's spot?

At Earth?

Maybe Arsia Mons, launched a huge amount of debris in our general direction.

We should probably just get there already, I mean Mars is different, we've got tectonic plates to renew the magma and core here on Earth.

Is it possible that as Mars cooled it locked pressure below till the point something had to give? Thus having one last hoorah in terms of volcanic activity?

I don't know... Fun to ponder though, Cheers for posting.

I am still wondering how they can pinpoint the age of a volcano from such a distance.

originally posted by: Sunwolf
I am still wondering how they can pinpoint the age of a volcano from such a distance.

From the article:

Examining the volcanic features within the caldera required high-resolution imaging, which the researchers obtained from the Context Camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

The team mapped the boundaries of the lava flows from each of the 29 volcanic vents and determined the stratigraphy, or layering, of the flows. The researchers also performed a technique called crater counting—tallying up the number of craters at least 330 feet (100 meters) in diameter—to estimate the ages of the flows.

As for the coincidence, I think it's just that. Volcanic activity on Mars ceased because its molten core cooled down. Producing one lava flow every 1 to 3 million years is hardly an explosive activity. Even the article compares it to a "slow, leaky faucet of magma".

a reply to: wildespace

Most likely.

But Mars does suffer erosion and our understanding of how our mantle and core operates is relatively new, 40-100 years in research and theories.

I don't know much about Martian geography, but I do know all we can work with is what we see. If 150-50 million years ago is when the planet officially died then something clearly kept it (the core) operating till then.

In retrospect a lot of our own geography has been theory for a while. We know the crust can be pushed miles underground, that's a fact and without talking like I know something about something I'm not well versed on... That's became the theory on how our core has maintained it's activity. That plus the theory that our planet collided with another.

So in essence I don't think we can know what's happened with Mars, not yet. It would appear Martian rock has hit us before. So maybe it did again.

Who knows...

Seeded by Martian splooge from volcanic tubes. I wonder where Gaia took it?

originally posted by: Neil4No1
Seeded by Martian splooge from volcanic tubes. I wonder where Gaia took it?

Niburu?
2nd line


ganjoa

a reply to: ElectricUniverse

I think the article is being very general (that is to say, imprecise) about the dates. They're saying the volcanic activity died-out ~50 million years ago, but any paleontologist will tell you dinosaurs went extinct ~65 million years ago. 15 million years is a significant interval in anyone's book.