There are many shield volcanoes on Mars. NASA is interested in imaging their vent regions to understand processes, and also to search for signs of recent activity. Active volcanism is one explanation for the methane gas that has been detected in the atmosphere of Mars. This HiRISE image shows that the summit caldera is mantled by dust & covered by small impact craters, so there is no chance that this volcano was active recently enough to affect current atmospheric trace gases. Image shows terrain less than 5km across. A unique optimised version of NASA imagery. Credit: NASA/JPL/UArizona

---

Size: 10240px × 4310px
Location: Mars
Photo credit: © NASA / digitaleye / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 10k, abstract, barren, black, caldera, desert, deserted, digitaleye, geology, geomorphology, hirise, horizontal, imaging, landform, landscape, mars, martian, misc22_nasa257, monochrome, nasa, panorama, panoramic, planet, remote, science, shield, summit, surface, terrain, texture, topography, tribaleye, uahirise, volcanism, volcano, white