Which solar system bodies have volcanoes

For more on habitability, read our guide What makes a planet habitable? The mysteries of these icy worlds will be peeled back over the coming years as cryovolcanism gives us the opportunity to examine them, both inside and out.

Water plumes have been spotted over Triton, Enceladus and Europa. Worlds with cryovolcanism often have highly reflective, smooth areas that are relatively free of craters, such as the Cipango Planum on Triton. This is because cryolava flows over craters made by meteors.

However, it is easy to mistake tectonic peaks for volcanic ones. Her first book about the history of robotic planetary landers is out now from The History Press. Home Science Cryovolcanism in the Solar System. This artificially coloured image of Enceladus shows the emission of dust fountains caused by cry-volcanic activity.

Ahuna Mons, found on dwarf planet Ceres, is thought to be an ice volcano that formed from the eruption of salty water and rock from within. About 50 dark plumes could be ice volcanoes erupting. This image captured by the Cassini spacecraft shows plumes of water ice erupting from the surface of Enceladus. The thick dome-forming lava on some moons resembles that of volcanoes like Mount St Helens. Jets erupt through the icy global ocean on Enceladus that acts as a mantle.

Tiger stripes on Enceladus, as seen by the Cassini spacecraft. You read that right. Ice volcanoes. These frozen features across the surface of Saturn's moon, Enceladus, have tantalized scientists since their icy plumes were first spotted in Cryovolcanoes on Enceladus's surface are thought to spray jets of water vapor, ice, and a mysterious mixture of gases into space. Enceladus is also very tiny. The moon has a diameter of approximately miles across. It's smaller than Olympus Mons, speaking of which Mars' Olympus Mons is the largest volcano in the solar system.

It's approximately miles across roughly the size of Arizona , 16 miles tall, and has a mile-wide crater at its summit. Lava flows stretch further on Mars thanks to the lower surface gravity and high eruption frequency. Scientists believe the volcano has been dormant for at least 2 million years because there isn't evidence of recent volcanic lava nearby. These pixelated images each taken 45 minutes by Voyager 2 in shows the five-mile-high plume of an active cryovolcano on Neptune's moon Triton.

At the time, scientists suspect that the large, dark cloud of particles likely contained frozen nitrogen and methane, according to the Chicago Tribune. Still, researchers are puzzling over the peculiar moon, even as recent technology has allowed them to analyze the imagery in even greater detail. Mars' largest volcanic region consists of not one, not two, but three separate volcanoes strung along the surface of the red planet.

Tharsis Montes is composed of three dormant shield volcanoes called Arsia, Pavonis, and Ascraeus Mons, each of which are to miles in diameter and roughly 44 miles apart. Ever since NASA's New Horizon's spacecraft zipped past Pluto in , scientists have been feverishly analyzing imagery of the dwarf planet. Though it has yet to be confirmed, many scientists believe this image of a mile-wide feature taken in Pluto's southern hemisphere could be evidence of cryovolcanism on the former planet.

If so, this feature—dubbed Wright Mons after the famous flyers—would be the largest known volcano in the outer solar system. Loki Patera is an active lava lake on the surface of Jupiter's moon, Io. It was first spotted by Voyager 1 in , and has been captivating scientists ever since. These magma bodies feed the volcanic islands that mark subduction zones. Although most volcanic activity takes place at plate boundaries, volcanism also can occur within the plate interiors at hotspots.

The hot material rises slowly, eventually melting as it reaches lower pressures near Earth's surface. When the material erupts it forms massive lava flows of fine-grained dark volcanic rock — basalt. The broad, gentle shield volcanos of Hawai'i come from a hotspot. What do Earth's volcanos tell us? The fact that Earth has volcanos tells us that Earth's interior is circulating and is hot — hot enough to melt. Earth is cooling; volcanos are one way to lose heat. The pattern of distribution of volcanos on Earth gives us a clue that Earth's outer surface is divided into plates; the chains of volcanos associated with mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones mark the plate edges.

Other planets have volcanic features — some recently active — telling geologists that they, too, are losing heat from their interiors and that there is circulation.

However, these planets do not display the pattern that Earth's volcanos do. What evidence is there of volcanism on other planets? Moon: Our closest neighbor has small volcanos, fissures breaks in the crust , and extensive flows of basalt, a fine-grained dark volcanic rock. The large dark basins that you can see on the Moon are the maria — areas of these lava flows. However, all these volcanic features are old.

There are no active volcanic features on the Moon. Most of the volcanic activity took place early in the Moon's history, before about 3 billion years ago. The most recent lava flow occurred about 1 billion years ago. Dark regions on the Moon are lunar maria. These are low, smooth regions of dark, fine-grained volcanic rock — basalt. Galileo spacecraft image PIA produced by the U. This rock sample was collected by the Apollo 15 mission in It is a basalt, a type of rock that solidifies from a volcanic lava.