Olympus Mons

In this episode of the I Can't Sleep Podcast, fall asleep learning about the Martian volcano, Olympus Mons. Why a topic about a volcano on Mars? It's the largest volcano in our solar system! But don't get your hopes up as the size of the volcano is the most interesting part. You should be asleep in no time. Happy sleeping!

Transcript

Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast,

Where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice.

I'm your host,

Benjamin Bostor.

Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled Olympus Mons.

Olympus Mons,

Latin for Mount Olympus,

Is an enormous shield volcano on the planet Mars.

The volcano has a height of over 21.

9 kilometers,

As measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter,

OLA.

Olympus Mons is about two and a half times Mount Everest's height above sea level.

It is one of the largest volcanoes,

The tallest planetary mountain,

And the second tallest mountain currently discovered in the solar system,

Comparable to Resilvia on Vesta.

It is often cited as the largest volcano in the solar system.

However,

By some metrics,

Other volcanoes are considerably larger.

Alba Mons,

Northeast of Olympus Mons,

Has roughly 19 times the surface area,

But is only about one third the height.

Pele,

The largest known volcano on Io,

Is also much larger at roughly four times the surface area,

But is considerably flatter.

Additionally,

Tarsus Rise,

A large volcanic structure on Mars,

Of which Olympus Mons is a part,

Has been interpreted as an enormous spreading volcano.

If this is confirmed,

Tarsus would be by far the largest volcano in the solar system.

Olympus Mons is the youngest of the large volcanoes on Mars,

Having formed during Mars's Hisparian period,

With eruptions continuing well into the Amazonian.

It had been known to astronomers since the late 19th century as the albedo feature Nyx olympica,

Latin for Olympic snow.

Its mountainous nature was suspected well before space probes confirmed its identity as a mountain.

The volcano is located in Mars's western hemisphere just off the northwestern edge of the Tarsus bulge.

The western portion of the volcano lies in the Amazonus quadrangle,

And the central and eastern portions in the adjoining Tarsus quadrangle.

Two impact craters on Olympus Mons have been assigned provisional names by the International Astronomical Union.

They are the 15.

6 kilometer diameter Karzakh crater,

And the 10.

4 kilometer diameter Pangabash crater.

The craters are notable for being two of several suspected source areas for sugar tides,

The most abundant class of Martian meteorites.

Description As a shield volcano,

Olympus Mons resembles the shape of the large volcanoes making up the Hawaiian islands.

The edifice is about 600 kilometers wide.

Because the mountain is so large,

The complex structure at its edges allocating a height to it is difficult.

Olympus Mons stands 21 kilometers above the Mars global datum,

And its local relief from the foot of the cliffs which form its northwest margin to its peaks is over 21 kilometers,

A little over twice the height of Mauna Kea as measured from its base on the ocean floor.

The total elevation change from the plains of Amazonis Planitia over 1000 kilometers to the northwest to the summit approaches 26 kilometers.

The summit of the mountain has six nested calderas,

Collapsed craters,

Forming an irregular depression 60 kilometers by 80 kilometers across and up to 3.

2 kilometers deep.

The volcano's outer edge consists of an escarpment or cliff up to 8 kilometers tall,

Although obscured by lava flows and places.

A feature unique among the shield volcanoes of Mars which may have been created by enormous flank landslides.

Olympus Mons covers an area of about 300,

000 kilometers squared,

Which is approximately the size of Italy or the Philippines,

And it is supported by a 70 kilometer thick lithosphere.

The extraordinary size of Olympus Mons is likely because Mars lacks mobile tectonic plates.

Unlike on Earth,

The crust of Mars remains fixed over a stationary hotspot,

And a volcano can continue to discharge lava until it reaches an enormous height.

Being a shield volcano,

Olympus Mons has a very gently sloping profile.

The average slope on the volcano's flank is only 5 degrees.

Slopes are steepest near the middle part of the flanks and grow shallower toward the base,

Giving the flanks a concave upward profile.

The shape of Olympus Mons is distinctly asymmetrical.

Its flanks are shallower and extend farther from the summit in the northwestern direction than they do to the southeast.

The volcano's shape and profile have been likened to a circus tent,

Held up by a single pole that is shifted off center.

Due to the size and shallow slopes of Olympus Mons,

An observer standing on the Martian surface would be unable to view the entire profile of the volcano,

Even from a great distance.

The curvature of the planet and the volcano itself would obscure such a synoptic view.

Similarly,

An observer near the summit would be unaware of standing on a very high mountain,

As the slope of the volcano could extend far beyond the horizon,

A mere 3 kilometers away.

The typical atmospheric pressure at the top of Olympus Mons is 72 Pascals,

About 12 percent of the average Martian surface pressure of 600 Pascals.

Both are exceedingly low by terrestrial standards.

By comparison,

The atmospheric pressure at the summit of Mount Everest is 32,

000 Pascals,

Or about 32 percent of Earth's sea level pressure.

Even so,

High-altitude orograph clouds frequently drift over the Olympus Mons summit,

And a airborne Martian dust is still present.

Although the average Martian surface atmospheric pressure is less than 1 percent of Earth's,

The much lower gravity of Mars increases the atmosphere's scale height.

In other words,

Mars' atmosphere is expansive and does not drop off in density with height as sharply as Earth's.

The composition of Olympus Mons is approximately 44 percent silicates,

17.

5 percent iron oxides,

Which give the planet its red coloration,

7 percent aluminum,

6 percent magnesium,

6 percent calcium,

And particularly high proportions of sulfur oxide with 7 percent.

These results point to the surface being largely composed of basalts and other mafic rocks,

Which would have erupted as low viscosity lava flows,

And hence lead to the low gradients on the surface of the planet.

Olympus Mons is an unlikely landing location for automated space probes in the near future.

The high elevations preclude parachute-assisted landings because the atmosphere is insufficiently dense to slow the spacecraft down.

Moreover,

Olympus Mons stands in one of the dustiest regions of Mars.

A mantle of fine dust obscures the underlying bedrock,

Possibly making rock samples hard to come by,

And likely posing a significant obstacle for rovers.

Geology Olympus Mons is the result of many thousands of highly fluid basaltic lava flows that poured from volcanic events over a long period of time.

The Hawaiian Islands exemplify similar shield volcanoes on a smaller scale.

Like the basalt volcanoes on Earth,

Martian basaltic volcanoes are capable of erupting enormous quantities of ash.

Due to the reduced gravity of Mars compared to Earth,

There are lesser buoyant forces on the magma rising out of the crust.

In addition,

The magma chambers are thought to be much larger and deeper than the ones found on Earth.

The flanks of Olympus Mons are made up of innumerable lava flows and channels.

Many of the flows have levees along their margins.

The cooler outer margins of the flows solidify,

Leaving a central trough of molten flowing lava.

Slightly collapsed lava tubes are visible as chains of pit craters,

And broad lava fans formed by lava emerging from intact surface tubes are also common.

In places along the volcano's base,

Solidified lava flows can be seen spilling into the surrounding plains,

Forming broad aprons and burying the basalt escarpment.

Major counts from high resolution images taken by the Mars Express orbiter in 2004 indicate that lava flows on the northwestern flank of Olympus Mons range in age from 150 million years old to only 2 million years old.

These ages are very recent in geological terms,

Suggesting that the mountain may still be volcanically active,

Though in a very quiescent and episodic fashion.

The caldera complex at the peak of the volcano is made of at least six overlapping calderas and caldera segments.

Calderas are formed by roof collapse following depletion and withdrawal of the subsurface magma chamber after an eruption.

Each caldera thus represents a separate pulse of volcanic activity on the mountain.

The largest and oldest caldera segment appears to have formed as a single large lava lake.

Using geometric relationships of caldera dimensions from laboratory models,

Scientists have estimated that the magma chamber associated with the largest caldera on Olympus Mons lies at a depth of about 32 kilometers below the caldera floor.

Crater size frequency distributions on the caldera floors indicate the caldera range in age from 350 million years ago to about 150 million years ago,

All probably formed within 100 million years of each other.

Olympus Mons is asymmetrically structured as well as topographically.

The longer,

More shallow northwestern flank displays extensional features,

Such as large slumps and normal faults.

In contrast,

The volcano's steeper southeastern side has features indicating compression,

Including steppe-like terraces in the volcano's mid-flank region,

Interpreted as thrust faults,

And a number of wrinkle ridges located at the basal escarpment.

Why opposite sides of the mountain should show different styles of deformation may lie in how large shield volcanoes grow laterally,

And in how variations within the volcanic substrate have affected the mountain's final shape.

Large shield volcanoes grow not only by adding material to their flanks as erupted lava,

But also by spreading laterally at their bases.

As a volcano grows in size,

The stress field underneath the volcano changes from compressional to extensional.

A subterranean rift may develop at the base of the volcano,

Causing the underlying crust to spread apart.

If the volcano rests on sediments containing mechanically weak layers,

E.

G.

Beds of water-saturated clay,

Detachment zones may develop in weak layers.

The extensional stresses in the detachment zones can produce giant landslides and normal faults on the volcano's flanks,

Leading to the formation of a basal escarpment.

Further from the volcano,

These detachment zones can express themselves as succession of overlapping,

Gravity-driven thrust faults.

This mechanism has long been cited as an explanation of the Olympus Mons aureole deposits.

Olympus Mons lies at the edge of the Tarsus Bulge,

An ancient,

Vast volcanic plateau likely formed by the end of the Naotian period.

During the Hesperian,

When Olympus Mons began to form,

The volcano was located on a shallow slope that descended from the high in Tarsus into the northern lowland basins.

Over time,

These basins received large volumes of sediment eroded from Tarsus and the southern highlands.

The sediments likely contained abundant Naotian-age phyllosilicates,

Clays,

Formed during an early period on Mars when surface water was abundant,

And were thickest in the northwest where basin depth was greatest.

As the volcano grew through lateral spreading,

Low-friction detachment zones preferentially developed in the thicker sediment layers to the northwest,

Creating the basal escarpment and widespread lobes of the aureole material.

Spreading also occurred to the southeast,

However it was more constrained in the direction by the Tarsus rise,

Which presented a higher friction zone at the volcano's base.

Friction was higher in that direction because the sediments were thinner and probably consisted of coarser-grained material,

Resistant to sliding.

The component and rugged basement rocks of Tarsus acted as an additional source of friction.

This inhibition of southeasterly basal spreading in Olympus Mons could account for the structural and topographic asymmetry of the mountain.

Numerical models of particle dynamics involving lateral differences in friction along the base of Olympus Mons have been shown to reproduce the volcano's present shape and asymmetry fairly well.

It has been speculated that the detachment along the weak layers was aided by the presence of high-pressure water in the sediment-poor spaces,

Which would have interesting astrobiological implications.

If water-saturated zones still exist in sediments under the volcano,

They would likely have been kept warm by a high geothermal gradient and residual heat from the volcano's magma chamber.

Potential springs or seeps around the volcano would offer exciting possibilities for detecting microbial life.

Early Observations and Naming Olympus Mons and a few other volcanoes in the Tarsus region stand high enough to reach above the frequent Martian dust storms recorded by telescopic observers as early as the 19th century.

The astronomer Patrick Moore pointed out that Schiaparelli had found that his notice-gordous and Olympic snow were almost the only features to be seen during the dust storms,

And guessed correctly that they must be high.

The Mariner 9 spacecraft arrived in orbit around Mars in 1971 during a global dust storm.

The first objects to become visible as the dust began to settle,

The tops of the Tarsus volcanoes,

Demonstrated that the altitude of these features greatly exceeded that of any mountain found on Earth,

As astronomers expected.

Observations of the planet from Mariner 9 confirmed that Nix Olympica was a volcano.

Ultimately,

Astronomers adopted the name Olympus Mons for the albedo feature known as Nix Olympica.

Regional Setting and Surrounding Features Olympus Mons is located between the northwestern edge of the Tarsus region and the eastern edge of Amazonas Planitia.

It stands about 1200 kilometers from the other three large Martian shield volcanoes,

Collectively called the Tarsus Montes,

Arsia Mons,

Pavonis Mons,

And Ascreus Mons.

The Tarsus Montes are slightly smaller than Olympus Mons.

A wide annular depression or moat about 2 kilometers deep surrounds the base of Olympus Mons and is thought to be due to the volcano's immense weight pressing down on the Martian crust.

The depth of this depression is greater on the northwest side of the mountain than on the southeast side.

Olympus Mons is partially surrounded by a region of distinctive grooved or corrugated terrain known as the Olympus Mons Oriel.

The Oriel consists of several large lobes.

Northwest of the volcano,

The Oriel extends a distance of up to 750 kilometers and is known as the Lycus Sulci.

East of Olympus Mons,

The Oriel is partially covered by lava flows,

But where it is exposed,

It goes by different names,

Lycus Sulci for example.

The origin of the Oriel remains debated,

But it was likely formed by huge landslides or gravity driven thrust sheets that sloughed off the edges of the Olympus Mons shield.

Reviews

All the space-related ones are the best at knocking me out! Super interesting until I woke up and realized I didn’t hear the end! Thank you B Boss (as my husband and I call you) for another great sleep story :-)

Too interesting! 🤓

I think the idea for this content is genius & is the best on this entire app.

Bored me into a coma in no time!

Interesting! Thank you!

Fell fast asleep. 😑