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New research has revealed that ancient Mars may have harbored extensive underground magma networks comparable to those found on Earth, calling into question the widely held belief that the Red Planet's interior was relatively simple.
The study, published in the journal Nature Astronomy in June 2026, analyzed seismic data collected by NASA's InSight lander from Marsquakes and meteorite impacts.
Scientists identified a boundary about 24 kilometers (15 miles) beneath the surface that appears to separate silica-rich rocks from deeper iron- and magnesium-rich rocks, suggesting magma once accumulated and evolved deep within the Martian crust.
The researchers say the findings indicate Mars may have sustained large, interconnected magma systems rather than isolated volcanoes, despite lacking the moving tectonic plates, the shifting sections of a planet's outer shell, that shape Earth's geology.
Similar processes on Earth are linked to the formation of continents and the recycling of crustal material.
The team said the discovery suggests complex crusts can develop on rocky planets without plate tectonics, raising the possibility that conditions favorable to habitability may be more common in the universe than previously thought.
The research was led primarily by the University of Oxford's Department of Earth Sciences in collaboration with the University of Bristol.
The research team also identified the crust-mantle boundary, the layer separating Mars's outer crust from the mantle beneath it, at a depth of approximately 38 kilometers.
They interpreted the lowermost section of the crust as a roughly 14-kilometer-thick layer depleted of melted material, formed after magma cooled and crystallized.
According to thermal modeling, this layer could not have formed under normal temperatures. Instead, it likely required elevated heat driven by mantle upwelling—the movement of hot material from deep within the planet—and magmatic intrusion, where molten rock pushes into the existing crust.
The findings, the researchers said, point to the existence of vertically integrated magmatic systems within the Martian crust similar to those found on Earth.
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