The Solar System’s Largest Volcanos

Since its discovery by the Mariner 9 spacecraft in 1972, the 22km (14-mile) tall Olympus Mons has been considered the tallest volcano in the entire solar system. Beyond its monumental height Olympus Mons is also staggeringly large spanning some 295,234 km² (113,990 mi²).

While Olympus Mons is still the solar system’s tallest volcano new research has pointed out that rival peaks exist here on Earth.

Deep beneath the Pacific Ocean, some 1600km (990 miles) from the coast of Japan lies the Shatsky Rise. Covering an area about the size of California, the Shatsky Rise is crowned by an extinct volcano the 4.4km (2.73 mi) tall Tamu Massif.

Although the Tamu Massif’s peak isn’t in same stratosphere as Olympus Mons, the shear size of its parent plateau places it among the largest geologic features in the solar system.  According to researchers, “Geophysical data from Tamu Massif demonstrate that the huge volcanoes found on other solar system bodies have cousins here on Earth.“

In fact, even more massive geologic features may exist on this planet. “After learning that Tamu Massif is an enormous volcano, now I would not be surprised if we found some other oceanic plateau is the same,” said University of Houston Professor of Geophysics William Sager. 

Sager continued, “I know colleagues who are studying [the] Ontong Java Plateau, which is the biggest [plateau on Earth]… I have not heard their findings yet, but maybe one day they will say that it is one volcanic mass or a small number of coalesced features and then [it] will be the biggest volcano [on Earth].”

Images Courtesy of Nature Geoscience