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Tharsis


Tharsis is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascraeus Mons, which are collectively known as the Tharsis Montes. The tallest volcano on the planet, Olympus Mons, is often associated with the Tharsis region but is actually located off the western edge of the plateau. The name Tharsis is the Greco-Latin transliteration of the biblical Tarshish, the land at the western extremity of the known world.

Tharsis can have many meanings depending on historical and scientific context. The name is commonly used in a broad sense to represent a continent-sized region of anomalously elevated terrain centered just south of the equator around longitude 265°E. Called the Tharsis bulge or Tharsis rise, this broad, elevated region dominates the western hemisphere of Mars and is the largest topographic feature on the planet, after the global dichotomy.

Tharsis has no formally defined boundaries, so precise dimensions for the region are difficult to give. In general, the bulge is about 5,000 km across and up to 7 km high (excluding the volcanoes, which have much higher elevations). It roughly extends from Amazonis Planitia (215°E) in the west to Chryse Planitia (300°E) in the east. The bulge is slightly elongated in the north-south direction, running from the northern flanks of Alba Mons (about 55°N) to the southern base of the Thaumasia highlands (about 43°S). Depending on how the region is defined, Tharsis covers 10–30 million km2, or up to 25% of Mars’ surface area.


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