Nasa Photo
NEWSLINE PAPER,- In fact, Olympus Mons on Mars is the biggest volcano in the solar system. It stands about 22 km (13.6 miles) above the land of Mars, which is almost three times as high as Mount Everest above sea level. It is about 600 km (373 miles) across at the base of Olympus Mons, which makes it bigger than the whole state of Hawaii.
Olympus Mons is a type of shield volcano that was mostly built by fluid lava flows. Shield volcanoes have wide sides that slope slowly down. This is because the lava spreads out as it cools. Although Olympus Mons is very big, if you stood on its top, you would not be able to see the volcano's base below because of the way the shield is curved.
Over billions of years, this huge volcano has formed. However, it is thought to be dead or dormant at the moment, as there have been no eruptions in recent geological history.
Mars has less gravity than Earth (about 38% of Earth's gravity) and its tectonic plates don't move, which helps Olympus Mons get so big. Hotspots of volcanoes on Earth, like Hawaii, make chains of volcanoes over millions of years as tectonic plates move over them. But on Mars, where plates don't move, magma plumes can feed a single volcano for much longer periods of time, letting it grow to huge proportions.
Mars has a volcano bigger than the entire state of Hawaii pic.twitter.com/KiVovoVK9Y
— Latest in space (@latestinspace) May 8, 2024