Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

Sun

“Fires that shook me once, but now to silent ashes fall'n away. Cold upon the dead volcano sleeps the gleam of dying day.”

-Tennyson

Volcano Types:

Shield Cone: Circular base, gentle slopes, basaltic, non-explosive.

Cinder-cone: Small, steep, ejected material returns.

Composite Cone: Large, explosive, fragments plus lava.

Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

Pluto

Sun

Past Volcanism on Mercury

Abundance of surface cratersNo craters more that 50 km in diameterEvidence of lava-filled cratersVolcanic rock samples predate EarthRock samples dated @ >3000 million years ago

Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

SunPluto

Volcanic Activity on Venus

80% of the planet’s surface shows volcanic activitySeveral million volcanoes have been detectedVenus is (debatably) volcanically extinctMany volcanoes are several hundred km across, and thousands of km high

NASA Photo: A Volcano on Venus

Largest volcanoes are shield-cone typeNo plate tectonics, which is part of how Earth coolsUnconfirmed cooling theories: hot spot volcanism and/or bubbling, blistering surface volcanoes

Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

SunPluto

Terrestrial Volcanism is a separate topic not covered here; please refer to your textbook, the internet, or other

relevant Earth-science resources.

Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

SunPluto

Martian Volcanoes

Mars is almost volcanically extinct; this is debatable Martian volcanoes are probably all shield-cone typesMars has at least 3 volcanoes larger than those on EarthMars has the largest volcano in the solar system: Olympus Mons

Olympus Mons:

A Shield Volcano

on Mars

Earth’s Largest Volcano: Mauna Loa9 km high

120 km across

Olympus Mons:24 km high

550 km across

x 3 =

Mars ≈ 1/2 of Earth’s diameterOlympus Mons ≈ 3 times the size of Earth’s largest VolcanoHuge size disparity due to Mars’ stationary crust, henceenormous hot-spots that build-up in stationary positions

Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

SunPluto

Volcanoes on Io: A moon of JupiterThe most volcanically active place in the solar system

At least 8 active volcanoes have been mapped

Plumes extend ≈ 280 km above Io’s surface

Molten rock spews out faster than the speed of sound

The size of Io is ≈ Earth’s moon

Jupiter ≈ 318 times more massive than Earth itself

Io and Earth’s moon ≈ same orbit, but Io has greater

gravitational stress, causing huge amounts of internal heat

Io: One of Jupiter’s Moons

Io:

Images from Galileo’s Mission

(“Raw” images) (Digitally remastered)

Io Lesson Plans & Activities:presented by ThursdaysClassroom.com

August 3, 2001

Thursday's Classroom Corner

These stories and lessons are based on the Science@NASA article"Another Daring Adventure for Galileo"

KIDS’ STORIES: These far-out discussion questions are as hot as the volcanoes on Io.[lesson plan] [questions]

Me-O, My-O, Io!: Students will use the words in the kid's stories and the Volcano Glossary to create their own volcanic verse. Sample poems include Haiku, limerick and simple rhyming forms. [lesson plan] [activity sheet] [sample poems] [glossary]

Volcano Jeopardy: Divide your class into competing teams and play this fun game designed to familiarize students with volcanoes all over the Solar System. [lesson plan] [Jeopardy Questions] [Volcanoes Around the Solar System]

Io Pizza Party: Some scientists think Io looks like a gigantic pepperoni & olive pizza. Students can decide for themselves by making their own Io Pizza Pie and comparing their work to pictures of Io. [lesson plan] [Io picture]

Paper Clip Quicky: In this quick and easy lesson, students use paper clips to understand how Io got so hot on the inside. [lesson plan]

Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

SunPluto

Volcanoes on Other Moons of Jupiter:

Europa and Ganymede have “Cryovolcanism!”

QuickTime™ and aPhoto - JPEG decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

SunPluto

Triton: The seventh (and largest)of Neptune’sMoons also

features “Ice Volcanoes!”

QuickTime™ and aPhoto - JPEG decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

Triton is the only large moon with a retrograde orbitTemperature equals Pluto’s ≈ -235ºCSurface contains only a few cratersThe surface is young; older features destroyed Ice Volcanoes! Liquid Nitrogen??

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

SunPluto

Venus

Mercury

Earth

Mars

Jupiter

?Scientists continue to search for evidence

of extraterrestrial volcanism……

?

?

?

?

? ??

?

?

?

??

?

??

???

Websites Used for Research can be found at:www.deafscience.net

under the “Astronomy” category

And…on your Earth Science Class Webyou can download the document

“E.T. Websites.”