How Iceland's Newest Volcano Provides Crucial Data About Mars

The Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland has finally let off some steam after months of increasingly severe and destructive earthquakes.

The isolated valley of Geldingadalir was rocked by lava on March 19, marking the first time in 800 years that an eruption had shaken this southwesterly sliver of land.

When Mars was young, it was also wetter, with a thicker radiation-blocking atmosphere. So microbes might have existed on the surface a long time ago.

Significant Difference

However, there is one significant difference: the size of the occurrences. The lava flows on Mars were awe-inspiringly prolific, with enough lava to bury a continent the size of the United Kingdom is only a few weeks. According to Tobias Dürig, a volcanologist at the University of Iceland, the Geldingadalir eruption is a "model-scale lava field." It's a tiny Martian explosion.

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