Geology of Mars

Mars · planet science · rocks

Mars has rocks too. Just like Earth, Mars has a solid crust made of rock and different types of minerals. Scientists study these rocks to learn about Mars's history and what it was like billions of years ago.

Special Mars scientists. Some scientists who study Mars geology use a cool Greek word for it: areology, which comes from Ares, the ancient Greek god of Mars. These experts combine knowledge from many different types of science like mineralogy and geochemistry.

Mountains and volcanoes. Mars has massive geological features including enormous volcanoes and deep canyons. By studying the rocks that make up these features, scientists can figure out how Mars changed over millions of years.

Like Earth, but different. Mars geology works much like Earth geology because both planets are made of solid rock, but Mars is smaller, colder, and doesn't have life or moving continents like Earth does.