The researchers behind the work are Adrien Broquet and Jeff Andrews-Hanna, scientists from the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona (United States).
They have extensively analyzed a diverse set of data taken by different spacecraft that have studied the Red Planet for decades, such as the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, both from NASA.
This plume could explain the low but constant seismic activity, recently detected by the NASA InSight landing module that has been on Mars since 2018 and explores an area called Cerberus Fossae.
The most recent volcano on the planet was in this location 53,000 years ago and the authors determine that the center of the plume is also there.
"In another study by our group, we have found the most recent case of volcanism in the history of Mars: a small deposit of ash about 20 kilometers in diameter right in the center of the mantle plume. Its age is 50,000 years, which means yesterday in geological terms. All of this tells us that this region is active today," Broquet argues on the matter.
These and other missions have allowed detailed topographical maps to be compiled, as well as studying the changes in the gravitational force exerted by the planet.
In fact, using geophysical models, they found evidence that the entire area is supported by a mantle plume of hot material between 95 and 285 kelvin, warmer than its surroundings.
This volcanism on Mars has similarities but also presents differences to that on Earth. The same process of mantle plumes and hot spots occurs in places like Hawaii or the Canary Islands.
As on Earth, there are tectonic plates that move like huge rafts on the mantle, the plumes cause eruptions that originate chains of islands. However, the mantle plume discovered on Mars is much larger than any that has existed on Earth.
