Earth and Mars: how do volcanoes grow?

Exploration

Earth and Mars: how do volcanoes grow?

Growth comparison · present-day Earth map

Imagined Hawaiian and Martian shield volcanoes. Not photographs, a shared moment or an equal-scale reconstruction; no present eruption is depicted.

Mauna Loa and Olympus Mons are broad, gently sloping shield volcanoes. Compare Earth’s moving plates with long-lived Martian volcanism, then explore how gravity, the lithosphere and magma supply shape their growth.