Giant cliffs that encircle Olympus Mons formed when lava flowing down the volcano encountered deep water.
, stretching 16 miles tall above the Martian surface, and with an enormous base about 374 miles wide. At the mountain's peak is a volcanic caldera that last erupted 25 million years ago. It sits next to the Tharsis Bulge – a huge volcanic plateau that features a row of three more shield volcanoes, Arsia, Pavonis and Ascraeus Mons.
The evidence is in the form of giant cliffs, or escarpments, that climb nearly 4 miles tall around Olympus Mons. Hildenbrand's team say the escarpments have the signature appearance of having formed where lava flowing down the flanks of the volcano encountered deep ocean water all around it. This would have taken place around 3.7 – 3.4 billion years ago.
If Hildenbrand's team is correct, then the top of the escarpments marks an ancient shoreline. Today, around Olympus Mons, we find a large depression in the surface, caused by the sheer weight of the mountain. The height of the escarpments indicates that ocean water would have filled in this depression to a depth of 4 miles .
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