Scientist discovers plate tectonics on Mars

A researcher from the University of California - Los Angeles found that the geological phenomenon, which involves the movement of huge crustal plates beneath a planet's surface, also exists on the red planet.

"Mars is at a primitive stage of plate tectonics. It gives us a glimpse of how the early Earth may have looked and may help us understand how plate tectonics began on Earth," said An Yin, a UCLA professor of Earth and space sciences.

Yin made the discovery during his analysis of satellite images from a NASA spacecraft known as THEMIS (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms) and from the HIRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

He analysed about 100 satellite images