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Alba Patera ("patera" means "saucer" in Latin) lies to the north of the Tharsis region. Alba Patera has the largest diameter of any volcano in the solar system. It is larger Olympus Mons in size (Alba Patera is over 1600 km across, Olympus Mons is about 625 km) but not height (Olympus Mons is 26 km high, Alba Patera reaches only 7 km). The volcano is surrounded by large fractures that appear to run in the same direction (approximately north-south), but the fractures to not impede the central structure of the volcano. The lava flows observed around Alba Patera show that they are much thicker than those found on the other shield volcanoes in the region. Analyses of the shadows cast by these flows show that some are up to 50 m (165 ft) thick! |