List of extraterrestrial volcanoes

This is a list of active, dormant, and extinct volcanoes located beyond planet Earth. They may be designated mons (mountain), patera (an irregular crater) or tholus (small mountain or hill) in accordance with the International Astronomical Union's rules for planetary nomenclature. Many of them are nameless.

Io

See also: Volcanism on Io and List of volcanic features on Io
Animation of eruption from Tvashtar Paterae (Io), taken from imagery from the New Horizons probe in 2007
Lava flow at Tvashtar Paterae

Io, a moon of the planet Jupiter, is the most volcanically active body in the Solar System.[1] Its volcanoes are believed to eject sulfur and sulfur dioxide, as well as basaltic and ultramafic silicate lavas.[2]

Mars

See also: Volcanism on Mars and Category:Volcanoes of Mars

Mars has many shield volcanoes, including the largest known volcano of the Solar System, but they are all dormant if not extinct.

The most famous of these volcanoes is Olympus Mons, which is the largest known volcano in the Solar System.[3]

Venus

See also: Volcanism on Venus and Category:Volcanoes of Venus

On Venus, volcanic features are very numerous and quite diverse, but, like on Mars, none are known to be currently active. These volcanoes range from several to several hundred kilometers in diameter; a majority of them are shield volcanoes. In addition, Venus has unusual types of volcanoes: pancake domes and scalloped margin domes. Most small volcanoes on Venus are nameless.

The Moon

See also: Volcanism on the Moon, Lunar mare, and List of maria on the Moon

Due to the low viscosity of most lunar lava, volcanic mountains were seldom created. Instead, basaltic lava flooded large areas, which became lunar maria. Shield volcanoes are known from a few areas on the Moon; they are called lunar domes. Some areas of the Moon are covered with a usually dark coating, which is interpreted as pyroclastic deposits. Sometimes they form a dark halo around rilles. See also:

Mercury

See also: Mercury (planet) § Surface geology, and Geology of Mercury
Lava-flooded craters and large expanses of smooth volcanic plains on Mercury

Many of Mercury's basins contain smooth plains, like the lunar mare, that are believed likely to be filled with lava flows. Collapse structures possibly indicative of volcanism have been found in some craters.[4] Eleven volcanic domes were identified in Mariner 10 images, including a 1.4-km high dome near the centre of Odin Planitia.[5]

Other planets and moons

See also

References

  1. ^ "Io: Facts". science.nasa.gov.
  2. ^ Geissler, P. E.; McMillan, M. T. (2008). "Galileo observations of volcanic plumes on Io". Icarus. 197 (2): 505–18. Bibcode:2008Icar..197..505G. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2008.05.005.
  3. ^ "Olympus Mons Information". www.britannica.com. 1 July 2024.
  4. ^ MESSENGER views an intriguing crater Archived 2013-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington, 2008-01-20.
  5. ^ Katterfeld, G. N. (1984). Volcanism on Mercury, Bulletin of Volcanology, Volume 47, Number 3, 531-535. doi:10.1007/BF01961224
  6. ^ "Cassini at Enceladus". science.nasa.gov.
  7. ^ "Evidence of Cryovolcanism on Titan". www.usgs.gov. 24 October 2018.
  8. ^ Schenk, Paul; Beddingfield, Chloe; Bertrand, Tanguy; et al. (September 2021). "Triton: Topography and Geology of a Probable Ocean World with Comparison to Pluto and Charon". Remote Sensing. 13 (17): 3476. Bibcode:2021RemS...13.3476S. doi:10.3390/rs13173476.
  9. ^ "At Pluto, Possible Ice Volcanoes Found". plute.jhuapl.edu. 9 November 2015.