Repetitive marsquakes in Martian upper mantle

Abstract

Marsquakes excite seismic wavefield, allowing the Martian interior structures to be probed. However, the Martian seismic data recorded by InSight have a low signal-to-noise ratio, making the identification of marsquakes challenging. Here we use the Matched Filter technique and Benford’s Law to detect hitherto undetected events. Based on nine marsquake templates, we report 47 newly detected events, >90% of which are associated with the two high-quality events located beneath Cerberus Fossae. They occurred at all times of the Martian day, thus excluding the tidal modulation (e.g., Phobos) as their cause. We attribute the newly discovered, low-frequency, repetitive events to magma movement associated with volcanic activity in the upper mantle beneath Cerberus Fossae. The continuous seismicity suggests that Cerberus Fossae is seismically highly active and that the Martian mantle is mobile.