Olympus Mons

Olympus Mons on Mars is the largest volcano in the Solar System. Although three times higher than Earth's Mount Everest, Olympus Mons would not be difficult to climb because of the volcano's great breadth. Covering an area greater than the entire Hawaiian volcano chain, the slopes of Olympus Mons typically rise only a few degrees at a time. The low gravity of Mars combined with a relatively static surface crust allows volcanoes this large to build up over time.

 

Olympus Mons is an enormous volcano. It stands about 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) higher than its surrounding landscape and it is over 500 kilometres (310 miles) in width. The map above has been enhanced to make topographic features more obvious. On that map, Olympus Mons looks steeper than it actually is.

Olympus Mons is the youngest of the large volcanoes on Mars, having formed during Mars' Amazonian Period. Olympus Mons had been known to astronomers since the late 19th century as the albedo feature Nix Olympica (Latin for "Snows of Olympus").

Olympus Mons is a gently sloping shield volcano, much like the volcanoes that make up the Hawaiian Islands. If you were placed on the flank of Olympus Mons and not told that you were standing on the slope of the volcano, you could probably look around and think that you were standing on a gently sloping plain. You would see a gentle slope upwards in one direction and a gentle slope down in the opposite direction.

If you were placed on the rim of the summit crater and looked down the slope of the volcano, your horizon would be located on the volcano's flank. The volcano is that gently sloping and that immense.

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