13 October 2004
This August 2004 Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) image shows lava flows and a collapsed lava tube on the upper southwest flank of Olympus Mons, one of the largest volcanoes ever known. The collapsed lava tube is the channel-like feature in the upper third of the image. All of the surfaces in this image are very heavily peppered by small meteor impact craters. While fairly young relative to much of the martian surface, the large volcanoes of Mars are still quite old and battered by impacts. This image is located near 17.9°N, 135.4°W, and image covers an area about 3 km (1.9 mi) wide. Sunlight illuminates the scene from the left.