Olympus Mons

Introduction

Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain in our solar system

Details:

  • Location: Mars
  • Age: Only 2 million years old
  • Height: 27km (3 times the height of Mt Everest)
  • Features: Steep cliffs, but average slope is very gradual

Fact file:

  • It is an extinct shield volcano, result of lava flowing out over a long period
  • It is much wider than it is tall
  • The volcano is surrounded by a region known as the Olympus Mons aureole
  • The Hawaiian islands are examples of similar shield volcanoes only on a smaller scale.  this is probably due to that mars do not have tectonic plates
  • The immediate land surrounding Olympus Mons is 2km deep
  • Olympus Mons is so big a person standing on mars wouldn’t be able to see the whole mountain. the only way to view it is from satellites.
  • The top of Olympus Mons is above martin atmosphere, meaning if you stood on top of the mountain, you would be standing in space

Photos

This is a close-up photograph of the western flank of the Olympus Mons:

Map of Mars