The largest volcano on Earth is Mauna Loa, which forms about half of the island of Hawaii. Its height, from the sea floor to its summit, is about 10 kilometers (6.3 miles) and its diameter is 120 km (75 miles). It is still growing.
The largest known volcano in the Solar System is Olympus Mons, on the planet
Mars. It is 25 kilometers high with a base approximately 624 km (374 miles) in diameter. Its volume
is about 100 times that of Mauna Loa. For an explanation of why volcanoes
on Mars can be so much bigger than those on Earth, see the NASA web page at:
mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mep/science/olympus_mons.html
The largest known observed volcanic eruption in the Solar System occurred on Io, a moon of Jupiter, on 22 February 2001. The eruption covered 1900 square kilometers.1
| Eruption | When | Volume of Rock and Ash Ejected, cubic kilometers2 |
|---|---|---|
| Mount St. Helens (USA) | May 1980 | 3 |
| Pinatubo (Phillipines) | 1991 | 7 |
| Tarawera (NZ) | ~1400? | 7.5 |
| Krakatoa (Indonesia) | 1883 | 8 |
| Rotoiti Breccia (NZ) | 65,000 tears ago | 50 |
| Taupo Pumice (NZ) | 1800 years ago | 110 |
| Mamaku Ignimbrite (NZ) | 220,000 yrs ago | 200 |
1. Franck Marchis, Imke de
Pater, A. G. Davies, H. G. Roe, T. Fusco, D. Le
Mignant, P. Descamps, B. A. Macintosh, and R. Prangé.
High-resolution Keck adaptive optics imaging of violent volcanic activity on Io.
Icarus, volume 10, number 1 (November 2002), pages 124-131.
2. Sources: Bruce Houghton and Bradley Scott, Geyserland, Geological Society of New Zealand Guidebook #13, 2002;
For many years the University of North Dakota has maintained an excellent website on volcanoes: volcano.und.edu
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Last revised: 12 April 2004.