Martian lava tube Martian lava tube Martian lava tubes are natural sub-surface lava tube caverns on Mars that are believed to form as a result of fast-moving, basaltic lava flows associated with shield volcanism. Lava tubes usually form when the external surface of the lava channels cools more quickly and forms a hardened crust over subsurface lava flows. The flow eventually ceases and drains out of the tube, leaving a conduit-shaped void space which is usually several meters below the surface. Lava tubes are typically associated with extremely fluid pahoehoe lava. Gravity on mars is about 38% that of Earth's, allowing Martian lava
Boring Lava Field of Troutdale and more than 32 vents within a radius of Kelly Butte. Mostly small cinder cone vents, these volcanoes also include some larger lava domes from shield volcanoes at Mount Sylvania, Highland Butte, and Larch Mountain. The Boring Lava Field marks the densest volcanic vicinity in this group, with 20 volcanic vents encompassing an area of . It includes more than 80 known small vents and associated lava flows, with more volcanic deposits likely present under sedimentary rock deposits from the Missoula Floods (also known as the Bretz or Ice Age Floods), which took place between 21,000 and 15,000