Olympus Mons is the tallest mountain in the solar system. Its peak is over 26 kilometers above its base. Olympus Mons is called a shield volcano because of its shape. The volcano is very tall, but it has a very gentle slope. Olympus Mons is over twenty times wider than it is high. It is the same kind of volcano as the active volcanoes currently making the Hawaiian Islands.
The line around Olympus Mons is a "basal cliff" which is as high as six kilometers in some places. In others, lava from the formation of Olympus Mons flowed over the cliff, smoothing it out.
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