images

Olympus Mons volcano on Mars

by

USGS/Novapix

Reference

a-mar04-00170

Date

2006-10-09

Color mosaic of Olympus Mons volcano on Mars from the Viking 1 Orbiter. The mosaic was created using images taken 22 June 1978. Olympus Mons is about 600 km in diameter and the summit caldera is 24 km above the surrounding plains. The summit caldera (central depression) is almost 3 km deep and 25 km across. It probably formed from recurrent collapse following drainage of magma resulting from flank eruptions.