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shield volcano
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Elysium region, in the northern hemisphere of Mars. The shield volcano Elysium Mons is visible in the upper left; just below it is another volcano, Albor Tholus. On the lower right, below the dark region, is the crater Ocrus Patera. This picture is a mosaic of images taken by the Viking spacecraft. Olympus Mons on Mars Sif Mons False-colour image of a shield volcano on Aphrodite Terra, north of Ovda Regio. The summit of the volcano is in the back of the image; lava flows can be seen on its right face. A fracture zone is responsible for the ridge of hills on the far right. The image is based on data from the Magellan spacecraft, and the vertical scale is highly exaggerated. volcanic landforms
Study how magma erupts as lava and turns into pumice or hardens to form a shield volcano
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shield volcano

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Elysium region, in the northern hemisphere of Mars. The shield volcano Elysium Mons is visible in the upper left; just below it is another volcano, Albor Tholus. On the lower right, below the dark region, is the crater Ocrus Patera. This picture is a mosaic of images taken by the Viking spacecraft.
Elysium region, in the northern hemisphere of Mars. The shield volcano Elysium Mons is visible in the upper left; just below it is another volcano, Albor Tholus. On the lower right, below the dark region, is the crater Ocrus Patera. This picture is a mosaic of images taken by the Viking spacecraft.

A shield volcano is a broad, dome-shaped mountain built by numerous eruptions of very fluid lava. These volcanoes are typically composed of basalt and are named for their resemblance to a warrior's shield lying on the ground. Their slopes are gentle, rarely exceeding 6 degrees, and their summits are often marked by flat, indented craters or calderas. While small shield volcanoes can form quickly, larger ones develop over about a million years through hundreds of thousands of effusive lava flows from their summits and rift zones. An example of a shield volcano is Mauna Loa in Hawaii.12

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