MARS was once rocked by titanic supervolcano eruptions that may have shaped the planet's climate, scientists believe.
Crater-like features which could be the footprints of the cataclysmic events have been discovered at several sites in the Martian northern highlands.
Scientists now believe that the craters were left behind by massive volcanic explosions that blasted ash and lava out of the planet's surface more than three billion years ago.
Supervolcano eruptions are thousands of times stronger than those of ordinary volcanoes, and can alter global climate and cause mass extinctions.
They have occurred in Earth's past, and a plugged supervolcano is said to be under Yellowstone National Park in the US.
Lead researcher Dr Joseph Michalski, from the Natural History Museum in London, said: "It is possible that the most ancient volcanoes were much more explosive and formed structures similar to what we now see in Arabia Terra."
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