Ever since I learned Mars was red because of Iron Oxide a.k.a Rust, has made me want humanity to stay clear of this planet. I picture a mass of iron filings that has rusted, and I can't imagine a worse place to be. Last week... It dawned on me... Iron. Earth's core is iron... It's what gives Earth's poles the magnetism which generates that energy field that protects us from solar radiation. So what if? - It dawned on me... What if, when we look at Mars from Earth, we're seeing an iron core of some planet that died, and before it died, before all we saw was a dead iron core, what if Mars was a lot bigger? So... IDK, one day, Earth's core'll be dead, and all the layers of Earth, like the mantel and everything, might get blown away, and all that's left, is Earth's dead iron core... and; What if due to oxidation, a dead exposed core of Earth'll look like a red planetary body too? So my theory is; Mars was bigger, and for all we know, once sustained life and for all we know, that life might have migrated to Earth? (who knows)?... But when I look at Mars, I see a skeleton of a planet, Mar's exposed iron core all oxidised (rusty), and, what if all that frozen water on Mars, is what the Pacific Ocean'd look like one day once Earth's core is completely exposed and dead? I want to write it.
There are some serious science problems though, Mars has a frozen (or barely rotating) iron core as well as a rocky regolith, it's not a ball of iron that's gone red. For a similar story, check out Inherit the Stars, by James P. Hogan. It theorizes that the asteroid belt was a planet where humans evolved.
I don't think so, we know that there is frozen water in mars (both on the surface and below it) and an explosion like the one you describe probably would leave the iron core as just that an iron core.
In addition to the above answers: We have meteorites from Mars. Iron ore is not the kind of iron the OP is thinking of. But hey, write the sci-fi story, just give the planets different names. Or, write the story as you are imagining it and see where it goes.
Thank you, all. I was only interested in presenting this new idea, but when Science already knows it's wrong; I no longer want to present this idea/theory of Mars I was toying with/thinking that that's also the same fate of our Earth too.
Just putting it out there that Earths surface doesn’t look the same way because of the active techonics and atmosphere. Iron is very common, most of our planet is made of it. There was a time that earth was red too. The surface looked just like mars and the oceans looked like blood. We know that because Earth has a thick layer of it that we call shale.