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Today's VIS image shows a cross section of Elysium Mons, including the entire summit caldera. Unlike the Tharsis volcanoes to east, there are very few identifiable lava flows on the flanks of the Elysium Mons. In profile the volcano looks like Mt. Fuji in Japan. Mt. Fuji is a stratovolcano. A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by multiple layers of lava and ash erupting solely from the summit caldera. The Tharsis volcanoes are shield volcanoes, which will host flank eruptions, but rarely ash eruptions. Elysium Mons is 12.6km (7.8 miles) tall. For comparison, Mt. Fuji is 3.7 km (2.3 miles) tall.

Orbit Number: 86633 Latitude: 24.5225 Longitude: 146.837 Instrument: VIS Captured: 2021-06-25 16:09

Please see the THEMIS Data Citation Note for details on crediting THEMIS images.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory manages the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) was developed by Arizona State University, Tempe, in collaboration with Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing. The THEMIS investigation is led by Dr. Philip Christensen at Arizona State University. Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, is the prime contractor for the Odyssey project, and developed and built the orbiter. Mission operations are conducted jointly from Lockheed Martin and from JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.