Mars’ thick crust may have been a hidden engine of geological activity, producing granitic magmas and sustaining underground ...

The research, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, suggests that the thick crust of Mars' southern highlands formed billions of years ago generated granitic magmas and sustained vast ...

If magma erupts on the surface as lava ... so the mineral crystals are small. Granite hardens within the earth’s crust, where temperatures are higher, so it cools much more slowly, allowing ...