The recently discovered caves were created in a short amount of time by violent meteorite impacts and volcanoes, say researchers. This makes these caves very different from the ones on Earth, which are made from slow dripping processes. The Geological Society of America is meeting this week in Denver and will attempt to identify the origin of Martian caves. The lava tubes were identified earlier this year by orbiting spacecraft. Ice melted by meteorite impacts could lead to bursts of caves around the impact zone. Caves formed by both of these processes could offer one attractive feature to prospective Martian life - protection from the loosely filtered solar and cosmic radiation that bombards the Martian surface. Researchers agree that caves could be the ideal place to search for Martian life.
Meteorite impacts could carve caves by creating two things vital for cave formation, fracturing and melting. On Earth, it's along fractures and planes in rocks that caverns form. Water travels through these fractures and dissolve, widening them if they are the right type of rock. On Earth these "right types of rocks" are carbonates (limestone) or evaporites (salt and gypsum). both types of rock are dissolved easily by either mildly acidic or neutral water. It is not known whether carbonates exist on Mars, but evaporites are believed to be everywhere. All such caves on Earth contain microbial life. Only time will tell.
Article:
http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/2077053.htm?enviro
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