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The Utopia Planitia region contains many distinctive landscapes.

The bumpy and pitted ground in this image may have formed through the eruption of either lava or mud onto the surface from deep underground. 

Mud volcanoes on Earth provide oases for life. If these features also formed through the eruption of mud, these landforms may hold clues to possible life-supporting oases in Mars’ distant past. 


Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona https://www.uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_070298_2145
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