Tamu massif under the pacific was once assumed to have been a Mesozoic volcanic complex consisting of many merging volcanos. Seismographic survey now show most, bif not all, of the edifice were built up rapidly by lava flows from a single central lava vent, making Tamu massif a single vulcano at least six times larger than Mauna Loa, the largest volcano on earth previously recognized.
Tamu massif is 85% as large as mt. Olympus on mars - long thought to be the single largest vulcano in the solar system - in area covered if not in volume. Its discovery seem to shatter the previous assumption that earth volcanos can't ever approach the size of the really large volcanos on mars due to plate tectonics on earth.
What is more, There are other, much larger underwater volcanic massifs on earth that have not been seismographically investigated in detail but have also previously been assumed to consist of many overlapping small volcanos. If some of these turn out to be single volcanos like Tamu, then earth may be in possessions of vulcanos far larger than mt. Olympus on Mars.
Tamu massif is 85% as large as mt. Olympus on mars - long thought to be the single largest vulcano in the solar system - in area covered if not in volume. Its discovery seem to shatter the previous assumption that earth volcanos can't ever approach the size of the really large volcanos on mars due to plate tectonics on earth.
What is more, There are other, much larger underwater volcanic massifs on earth that have not been seismographically investigated in detail but have also previously been assumed to consist of many overlapping small volcanos. If some of these turn out to be single volcanos like Tamu, then earth may be in possessions of vulcanos far larger than mt. Olympus on Mars.
