Tectonics of Mars southern highlands, and the Tharsis plateau. Much tectonic study of Mars seeks to explain the processes that led to the planet's division into these three provinces, and how their differing characteristics arose. Hypotheses proposed to explain how the two primary tectonic events may have occurred are usually divided into endogenic (arising from the planet itself) and exogenic (foreign to the planet, e.g., meteorite impact) processes. This distinction occurs throughout the study of tectonics on Mars. In general, Mars lacks unambiguous evidence that terrestrial-style plate tectonics has shaped its surface. However, in some places magnetic anomalies in the Martian crust that
Climate of Mars have once had a much thicker and warmer atmosphere, and oceans and/or lakes may have been present. It has, however, proven extremely difficult to construct convincing global climate models for Mars which produce temperatures above 0 °C at any point in its history, although this may simply reflect problems in accurately calibrating such models. Evidence of a geologically recent, extreme ice age on Mars was published in 2016. Just 370,000 years ago, the planet would have appeared more white than red. Mars' temperature and circulation vary every Martian year (as expected for any planet with an atmosphere). Mars lacks oceans,