Tharsis
Videos
Tharsis is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield vol
MOLA topography of the Thaumasia Plateau (Syria-Thaumasia block) and southern Tharsis. The volcano shown at the left is Arsia Mons. Valles Marineris extends across the northern edge. The areas in brown have the highest elevations on the Tharsis Plateau and may be considered the "summit region" of the Tharsis bulge.
Orographic water ice clouds hover over the volcanic peaks of the central Tharsis region in this color image mosaic from Mars Global Surveyor. Olympus Mons dominates at upper left. At center are the three Tharsis Montes: Arsia Mons at bottom, Pavonis Mons at center, and Ascraeus Mons at top.
Images of ice water clouds over Tharsis taken by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, 2016
Volcanism on Mars
Videos
Volcanic activity, or volcanism, has played a significant role in the geologic evolution of Mars. Scientists have known since the Mariner 9 mission in 1972 that volcanic features cover large portions
Mariner 9 image of Ascraeus Mons. This is one of the first images to show that Mars has large volcanoes.
THEMIS image of lava flows with lobate edges (from Arsia Mons volcano)
First X-ray diffraction view of Martian soil – CheMin analysis reveals minerals (including feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine) suggestive of "weathered basaltic soils" of volcanoes in Hawaii (Curiosity rover at "Rocknest", 2012). Each ring is a diffraction peak that corresponds to a specific atom-atom distance, which are unique enough to identify minerals. Smaller rings corresponds to larger features and vice versa.
Viking orbiter image of the three Tharsis Montes: Arsia Mons (bottom), Pavonis Mons (center), and Ascraeus Mons (top)