Odd Mars question

[soap]

Over the past few months I have been reading the message boards and have been fairly interested in the conversations. Besides high school chemistry and physics, I have had very little contact with the sciences. In college I took 2 years of geology, but I mostly studied the Permian and that really doesn’t help answer my questions… unless you have questions on crinoids.<br /><br />The question (in some form).<br /><br />Mars has not had a volcanic eruption, from what I have read, in over a million years and is considered to be dormant. If the moon Phobos had a mass that was close to ¼ of Mars’ mass, would this create enough gravitational pressure on Mars to bring it out of this dormancy? I realize that Phobos’ orbit would need to be increase as well.<br /><br />This is what I know. As the moon orbits the Earth, it causes the Earth to bulge in the direction of the Moon. This process creates tides, so does the Sun to a degree, and pulls at the Earth’s crust creating friction. Is Mars too dormant for Phobos to do anything more than warm Mars’ crust?<br /><br />I apologize if I misused any terms or definitions. <br />

 

[harmonicaman]

I'll offer an opinion...<br /><br />I think if Mars had a large enough moon orbiting at the right distance and it wasn't "Tidally Locked" on Mars; then sure, this would heat up the interior of Mars enough to produce volcanic and possibly tectonic activity!<br /><br />Mars may have a bit too little mass to be as active as the Earth and the proposed moon's size and orbit would have to be pretty much optimized for the desired effect; but I'll bet it's a theoretical possibility!<br /><br />(This problem can actually be answered mathematically with some certainty, but it would be a bit of a challenge -- and well beyond my abilities... <img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" />) <br /><br />

 

[soap]

Thanks for the reply.

 

[JonClarke]

Welcome soap! You should tell us about Permian pelmatozoans sometimes <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />It's a perfectly good question. I suspect the anwers is that effect would be miniscule. Internal heat on earth is essentially from radioactive decay. However a quarter Mars mass at Pbobos distance would have some effect, that's for sure.<br /><br />It's worth noting that since the Tharisis volcanoes have a history going back several billion years, and the most recent eruption was a millions years ago, they are probably still active. Interesting thought.<br /><br />Jon<br /><br />PS This thread might be worth moving to the SS&A forum, a more natural home. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>