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Olympus Mons (/ ə ˌ l ɪ m p ə s ˈ m ɒ n z, oʊ-/; [4] Latin for 'Mount Olympus') is a large shield volcano on Mars. It is over 21.9 km (13.6 mi; 72,000 ft) high as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), [ 5 ] about 2.5 times the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level .
Mons (plural montes) is the Latin word for mountain; it is a descriptor term used in astrogeology for mountainous features in the Solar System. The three Tharsis Montes volcanoes are enormous by terrestrial standards, ranging in diameter from 375 km (233 mi) (Pavonis Mons) to 475 km (295 mi) (Arsia Mons). [1]
The layering is believed to have come from the global warming and cooling cycle on Mars; during cooling periods, water migrated to the poles and formed the ice-water layers, while on subsequent warming, the unthawed ice water was covered by layers of dust and dirt from windstorms on the surface, helping to preserve the ice water. [44] [45]
However, the largest volcano on the planet, Olympus Mons, is thought to have formed when the plates were not moving. Olympus Mons may have formed just after the plate motion stopped. The mare-like plains on Mars are roughly 3 to 3.5 billion years old. [72] The giant shield volcanoes are younger, formed between 1 and 2 billion years ago.
Tharsis (/ ˈ θ ɑːr s ɪ s /) is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars. [note 1] The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons, which are collectively known as the Tharsis Montes.
The central part contains Amazonis Planitia and the eastern part includes the western flank of the largest known volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons. The Amazonis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program .
Noctis Labyrinthus is located in the heart of Tharsis at the western end of the Valles Marineris, manifesting as a network of graben that extends in a spider-like network before coalescing into a coherent, relatively shallow graben swarm that curves in a semicircular fashion towards the south into the Claritas Rise.
The huge shield volcano Olympus Mons lies off the main bulge, at the western edge of the province. The extreme massiveness of Tharsis has placed tremendous stress on the planet's lithosphere . As a result, immense extensional fractures ( grabens and rift valleys ) radiate outward from Tharsis, extending halfway around the planet.