True polar wander on Mars True polar wander on Mars For some time, scientists have thought that the location of the poles of Mars have shifted due to the great mass of volcanic material in the Tharsis dome which includes Olympus Mons, the highest volcano in the solar system. A study published in Nature supports this idea. For a period early in the history of Mars, the poles were about 20 degrees away from their present positions. At that time ice was deposited in a region called Dorsa Argentea Formation. Also, the Martian dichotomy was aligned along the equator. A band of rivers formed at
Arsia Mons the three Tharsis Montes volcanoes, it is the only major Tharsis volcano south of the equator. The volcano is in diameter, almost high (more than higher than the surrounding plains), and the summit caldera is 110 km (72 miles) wide. It experiences atmospheric pressure lower than 107 pascals at the summit. Excluding Olympus Mons, it is the largest known volcano in terms of volume. Arsia Mons has 30 times the volume of Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the largest volcano on the Earth. The caldera of Arsia Mons was formed when the mountain collapsed in on itself after its reservoir of