"The evolution of understanding Mars' interior structure: Focusing on the roles of mineral physics, geochemistry, and seismology from the InSight mission"
- Authors
Byeonggwan Go, Yongjae Lee*
- Journal
대한지질학회지
Vol.61, no.4, pp.459-480, 2025.12 - DOI
Abstract
This review article chronicles the evolution of our understanding of Mars's internal structure, a fundamental aspect for comprehending its formation, thermal history, and the evolution of its magnetic and geological activities. We trace this scientific journey from early models based on astronomical and geodetic constraints to later theoretical frameworks informed by mineral physics and cosmochemical models. A central focus is the transformative impact of the NASA InSight mission, which for the first time provided direct seismic observations of the Martian interior. Prior to InSight, models were refined by data from missions like Mariner 4 and Viking, and by geochemical analysis of chondrites and SNC meteorites, which progressively constrained the composition of Mars's mantle and core. InSight's seismic data, however, provided a crucial "ground truth", leading to significant revisions of long-standing models. Based on InSight observations, renewed debate has emerged concerning water budget within a multi-layered crust; moreover, previously unanticipated mantle structures and heterogeneity have been identified, and a large, low-density liquid core enriched in light elements (including S and O) has been inferred. Recent studies even propose the existence of a small, solid inner core. This newfound understanding has validated certain geochemical hypotheses while simultaneously refuting others, paving the way for a new frame of the Martian interior model. We provide a brief synthesis of this intellectual progression, which will form a basis for planning on-site exploration of Mars and a nascent field of comparative planetology.
