Shield Volcanoes on Earth and Mars
The table below presents a brief, side by side comparison of
shield volcanoes on Earth and Mars.
Earth
Mauna Kea (Hawaii) is a shield volcano.
Click on image for full size version (202K GIF)
Image courtesy of the American Geophysical Union; further
reproduction is prohibited.
Mauna Kea is one of the two shield volcanoes that have formed the Big
Island of Hawaii. Shield volcanoes can grow to be very
big. Mauna Kea, the tallest of Earth's shield volcanoes, is 4205 m
(13796 ft) above sea level. When you consider that it was built up from the
ocean floor, that means it rises well over 8,000 m from the bottom of the
ocean. Thus Mauna Kea would be among the world's tallest mountains if much
of it were not under water.
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Mars
This is an image of Olympus Mons.
Click on image for full size version (140K GIF)
Image courtesy of NASA
The volcanoes of Mars most resemble terrestrial shield volcanoes. The
largest known volcano in the solar system is Olympus Mons, shown in the
image above.
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