When dust storms rage around Mars, they cover the globe in a rusty haze, blocking the planet from our view. But when the dust starts settling, what do we get to see first? The majestic peak of the tallest mountain on the planet! Meet Olympus Mons, a shield volcano, and the largest volcano in our solar system!
Simply put, a “shield” volcano is one that looks like an ancient warrior’s round shield. It is wider rather than tall, and has very gentle slopes. This is because the lava erupting out of this volcano is not very thick. It keeps flowing down the sides, and the volcano gradually grows wider over the years.
It probably took Olympus Mons more than a billion years to reach its present size. Spread over an area of 300,000 square kilometres, Olympus Mons is almost as big as our state of Maharashtra! Its volume is almost 100 times that of the biggest volcano on the Earth, Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
The average slope of Olympus Mons is only about three degrees. This means that to climb to a point just one metre higher on the mountain you will have to walk a little more than 20 metres! Imagine climbing to its summit which is almost 21 kilometres above the Martian surface!
Even the tallest mountain on our planet, Mount Everest in the China-Nepal border, is only 8.8 kilometres high.
Picture Credit : Google
