Pavonis Mons a space elevator location, especially in science fiction. Pavonis Mons stands at the southern edge of the Tharsis quadrangle - approximately 400 km southwest of Ascraeus Mons (the northernmost of the Tharsis Montes) and 400 km northeast of Arsia Mons (the southernmost member of the chain). The Tharsis Montes volcanoes lie along the crest of a northeast-trending rise (Tharsis bulge) that extends more than 3,000 km across the western equatorial region of Mars. Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System lies at the edge of the Tharsis bulge, about 1,200 km northwest of Pavonis Mons. Pavonis Mons is
Olympus Mons This inhibition of southeasterly basal spreading in Olympus Mons could account for the structural and topographic asymmetry of the mountain. Numerical models of particle dynamics involving lateral differences in friction along the base of Olympus Mons have been shown to reproduce the volcano's present shape and asymmetry fairly well. It has been speculated that the detachment along the weak layers was aided by the presence of high-pressure water in the sediment pore spaces, which would have interesting astrobiological implications. If water-saturated zones still exist in sediments under the volcano, they would likely have been kept warm by a high geothermal