Albor Tholus is an

extinct volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the Crust (geology), crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth ...

in the volcanic province

Elysium Elysium (), otherwise known as the Elysian Fields (, ''Ēlýsion pedíon''), Elysian Plains or Elysian Realm, is a conception of the afterlife that developed over time and was maintained by some Greek religious and philosophical sects and cult ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. It lies south of the neighbouring volcanoes Elysium Mons and Hecates Tholus. Albor Tholus is 4.5 kilometresHRSC Bildserie #011 - Albor Tholus (Mars Express Orbit 0032); Gruppe Fernerkundung der Erde und der Planeten an der FU Berlin
/ref> high and has a diameter of 160 km at its base. Its large

caldera A caldera ( ) is a large cauldron-like hollow that forms shortly after the emptying of a magma chamber in a volcanic eruption. An eruption that ejects large volumes of magma over a short period of time can cause significant detriment to the str ...

, having a diameter of 30 km and a depth of 3 km, is deep compared to calderas on the Earth. The elevation of the lowest level of the caldera is the same as the base of the volcano; however, the original lower slopes of Albor Tholus may have been covered by lava flows from its larger neighbor, Elysium Mons. Evaluations by the Mars probe

Mars Express ''Mars Express'' is a space exploration mission by the European Space Agency, European Space Agency (ESA) exploring the planet Mars and its moons since 2003, and the first planetary mission attempted by ESA. ''Mars Express'' consisted of two ...

found that the volcanoes of the Elysium region were active over long periods. Image:MOLA albor tholus.jpg, Topography of Albor Tholus and its neighborhood. Image:Albor Tholus with THEMIS.JPG, Albor Tholus as seen by THEMIS. The area has undergone extensive faulting.

References

External links

Albor Tholus with Google Mars
Volcanoes of Mars Mountains on Mars Extinct volcanoes Elysium quadrangle {{volcano-stub