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Although we have seen that Mars has little (if not) water for a human colonization on a large scale, it still offers many opportunities for future explorations. These are related to the potential richness of its minerals, both on the surface and its subsurface, and a challenging environment where to test technological solutions for the exploitation of inhospitable worlds. We explore new methodologies for a drier extraction of minerals, with respect to current methods used in the mining industry on Earth, and existing concepts of human colony based on in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). 3D printing techniques will allow construction of buildings from the volcanic materials available on the surface of Mars.

Mars displays a variety of volcanic structures, thus giving us insight into the variety of volcanic eruption processes and lava flow morphologies. These eruption processes, from plumbing systems, supply rates, and magma mineralogy can all affect the eruption style. Understanding these different types of eruption styles represents a distinct geophysical process on Mars that in some cases resemble volcanic systems of Earth. The similarities are in the gas exsolution from magmas at shallow depth, but then depends on factors such as composition, volatile content, and temperature. The ascent of the magma can form dikes and sills, which may undergo chemical and physical evolution, which can then lead to a diversification of volcanic activity and lava flow viscosity. This chapter explores our current understanding of eruptive styles, magma reservoirs, and flow textures across Mars with a look at the thermodynamical perspectives of lava flow morphology.

Highland paterae are broad, low-sloped volcanoes on Mars that have a large summit caldera and channeled flanks. Crater-modeled ages suggest they may represent some of the oldest central vent volcanoes on the planet. The presence of channeled flanks that surround a younger summit caldera with topographically smooth floor material has led to the interpretation that highland paterae record a transition from explosive volcanic eruptions to more effusive eruptive styles. In this chapter we describe the geology of seven highland paterae (Amphitrites Patera, Peneus Patera, Malea Patera, Pityusa Patera, Tyrrhena Patera, Hadriaca Patera, and Apollinaris Mons), discuss what that reveals about their history and origin, and then discuss possible avenues of future research on these intriguing Martian landforms.

Our knowledge of the formation and evolution of the Martian surface, and thus the fate of its volcanic regions, are revealed in the mineralogy of the crust (as observed by orbiters and landers) and the chemistry hidden within Martian meteorites. The composition of the Martian crust has been estimated from SNC (shergottite—nakhlite—chassignite) meteorites, which are chemically similar to terrestrial basalts. However, these meteorites reveal a complexity in other mineralogies, such as the silicic implications for volcanism across Mars. Although the exact locations of such SNCs are difficult to discern, the variety of geochemical data from these meteorites gives us a clue as to the mineralogical regions, and thus probable varieties of volcanism on Mars. In this chapter, we will explore the Martian meteorites and their clues to the Martian volcanic regions and crustal components of the North–South dichotomy.