Tharsis Montes

Common card · No. 481538

The Tharsis Montes () are three large shield volcanoes in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars. From north to south, the volcanoes are Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons. 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). Ascraeus Mons is the tallest with a summit elevation of over 18 km (59,000 ft), or 15 km (49,000 ft) base-to-peak. For comparison, the tallest volcano on Earth, Mauna Kea in Hawaii, is about 120 km (75 mi) across and stands 9 km (30,000 ft) above the ocean floor. The Tharsis Montes volcanoes lie near the equator, along the crest of a vast volcanic plateau called the Tharsis region or Tharsis bulge. The Tharsis region is thousands of kilometers across and averages nearly 10 km (33,000 ft) above the mean elevation...

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