# Does MARS Have Mountain Ranges?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mars-have-mountain-ranges/224317>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 13, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mars-have-mountain-ranges/224317 "2004-01-13T22:16:53Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [January 13, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mars-have-mountain-ranges/224317/1 "2004-01-13T22:16:53Z")

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I was excited to see the latest photos from the Mars probe…those hills in the distance look like they might be interesting. Anyway, is there any evidence for plate tectonics on Mars? The movemnt of plates resulted in mountain ranges on earth…is there any evidence that Mars once had plate movement?  
Or are the high mountains only volcanic?  
Will the next Mars lander be sent near a volcano? Are all of the Martian volcanos dormant?  
Wish I could be there! :smack:

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**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mars-have-mountain-ranges/224317/2 "2004-01-14T00:37:47Z")

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Possibly, though activity would’ve stoped several billion years ago. From [NASA](http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ast29apr99_1.htm)

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> Magnetic stripes on the surface of Mars are similar to fields in the sea floors of Earth and may indicate ancient crustal movements on the Red Planet.

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**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mars-have-mountain-ranges/224317/3 "2004-01-14T03:23:05Z")

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It’s also worth noting that NASA has to find a balance between the desire to check out some interesting terrain and the desire not to have their $100 million orbiter fall into a crevasse. Hence the relative boringness of the Mars Rover sites thus far.

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**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-mars-have-mountain-ranges/224317/4 "2004-01-14T15:56:56Z")

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A slightly newer paper on Martian geology doesn’t rule out a series of tectonic plates, but says that better maps are required. From [this paper](http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/5thMars99/pdf/6020.pdf)

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> Unfortunately little photogeologic evidence supports the suite of features that would be expected to be observed at the various plate tectonic boundaries defined in Sleep’s plate tectonic model [10] and other internal models for the formation of the northern lowlands continue to be proposed

This doesn’t mean that tectonic activity never occurred (see Olympus Mons) but that a series of crustal plates might never have completely developed before the crust thickened too much to allow them.