Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

Context image credit: NASA/JPL/MOLA
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Like drippings from a candle, these lava flows on the flank of Olympus Mons volcano demonstrate how it became the largest volcano in the solar system. Multiple flows from an unknowable number of eruptions have piled one on top of another until the mountain of lava reached a height of 27 km above the average Martian elevation. The change in texture seen in the bottom 1/3 of the image marks a break in slope from the flank of the volcano to the north (top) and the flat plain surrounding it. The direction of flows changes from roughly N-S to E-W, suggesting another source for the flows on the plain.