We frequently marvel on the largest peaks that grace our planet—Everest, K2, Denali—however There’s a mountain that dwarfs all these giants not simply by a little bit, however by an astronomical margin. Olympus Mons, is the biggest volcano in our photo voltaic system. It’s situated not on Earth, however on Mars.
Olympus Mons stands at a staggering top of about 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) with a base diameter of roughly 600 kilometers (373 miles). To place that into perspective, Mount Everest, Earth’s highest peak at roughly 8.8 kilometers (5.5 miles), is sort of 2.5 instances shorter than Olympus Mons. The sheer scale of this Martian big is not only spectacular when it comes to its top but additionally in its quantity and space. Olympus Mons covers an space just like the scale of Arizona or Italy!
This protect volcano has a gently sloping base, a attribute frequent to the protect volcanoes of the Hawaiian Islands on Earth, however on a a lot vaster scale. Its huge dimension is because of the lack of plate tectonics on Mars, which permits the volcano to build up layers of lava over hundreds of thousands of years with out interruption. The caldera on the summit of Olympus Mons is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) huge, which might comfortably accommodate the whole thing of Paris.
If Olympus Mons have been to be positioned on Earth, it could not solely tower over the very best peaks but additionally dramatically alter the Earth’s geography and local weather. For instance, superimposing it onto the US map, it could cowl a good portion of the western states, offering a surreal and formidable sight.
