- Li, Jiaqi;
- Beghein, Caroline;
- McLennan, Scott M;
- Horleston, Anna C;
- Charalambous, Constantinos;
- Huang, Quancheng;
- Zenhäusern, Géraldine;
- Bozdağ, Ebru;
- Pike, WT;
- Golombek, Matthew;
- Lekić, Vedran;
- Lognonné, Philippe;
- Bruce Banerdt, W
The most distant marsquake recorded so far by the InSight seismometer occurred at an epicentral distance of 146.3 ± 6.9o, close to the western end of Valles Marineris. On the seismogram of this event, we have identified seismic wave precursors, i.e., underside reflections off a subsurface discontinuity halfway between the marsquake and the instrument, which directly constrain the crustal structure away (about 4100-4500 km) from the InSight landing site. Here we show that the Martian crust at the bounce point between the lander and the marsquake is characterized by a discontinuity at about 20 km depth, similar to the second (deeper) intra-crustal interface seen beneath the InSight landing site. We propose that this 20-km interface, first discovered beneath the lander, is not a local geological structure but likely a regional or global feature, and is consistent with a transition from porous to non-porous Martian crustal materials.