Question

What property of Mars is responsible for producing the great heights of its volcanoes?

A: Its cold temperatures allow the magma to freeze faster.
B: Its volcanoes are made of sulfur, like Io's.
C: Its thick crust can support larger peaks, and lower surface gravity does not pull them down as much as on Earth.
D:Its higher surface gravity allows higher peaks to form.
E: Mars has more radioactive material than the Earth.

Answer 1

The great heights of volcanoes on Mars, like Olympus Mons, are due to the planet's lower surface gravity and the fact that its crustal plates do not move, allowing volcanoes to grow over long periods.

Step-by-step explanation:

The property of Mars responsible for producing the great heights of its volcanoes is primarily its lower surface gravity. This lesser gravity on Mars enables larger elevation differences to be supported without the structures collapsing under their own weight, as they would under Earth's stronger gravity.

This explanation is further supported by the fact that Mars' crust does not have the same tectonic activity found on Earth. On our planet, crustal plate movement prevents the formation of very large volcanoes because the plates are constantly moving, leading to a distribution of volcanic activity across multiple sites.

Additionally, Mars's stationary crust over underlying hot spots allows volcanoes like Olympus Mons to grow for hundreds of millions of years, reaching heights more than twice that of Earth's tallest mountains. This immense volcano has a summit towering over 20 kilometers above the Martian plains, making it the largest volcano in the solar system.