3. Olympus Mons Flows

Individual lava flows can be traced from the lower flanks of Olympus Mons over the southern basal scarp of the volcano and onto the surrounding plains. Several flows display well-developed leveed channels that fed the molten rock to the advancing flow front. The overall dimensions of these flows are comparable to but often larger than the dimensions of individual basalt flows on terrestrial shield volcanoes, such as those that make up the Hawaiian Islands.

14 N, 134 W; Viking Orbiter frames 468S37 and 39, shading corrected version.

Right click here to download a high-resolution version of the image (2.66 MB)