Massive Volcanoes on Mars Get Slammed by Meteors

IMAGE: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Volcanoes that are pockmarked with meteor impacts are not a common site on Earth. Most of our terrestrial volcanoes are quite young, and have not spent enough time exposed to incoming objects from space.  On Mars, volcanoes with impact craters are common place.  An example of one such volcano slammed by meteors is the Tharsis Tholis volcano, which stands at over 8 km high and covers a land area that covers nearly 20,000 miles.  

This Martian volcano is huge when compared to similar ones on our Earth. For a Martian volcano, the Tharsis Tholis Volcano is of average height. The volcano is said to be over 4 billion years old.  Because of its great age, it has spent many years exposed to incoming meteors to the Red Planet.  The Tharsis Tholis volcano hosts a large number of meteorite impact craters around and inside of its massive caldera. 

The image above was taken by the European Space Agency's Mars Express, using its High Resolution Stereo Camera. A digital terrain model (DTM) is shown that is exaggerated by a factor of three and it is color coded by elevation of the terrain.