Mars' second volcanic heartland — home to some of its youngest lava.
Elysium is the second major volcanic province on Mars, crowned by Elysium Mons, a shield volcano rising some 12–14 km high. The surrounding plains hold remarkably young lava flows and flood channels, hinting at geologically recent activity.
Claim your plot here →The Elysium rise is a broad volcanic bulge topped by three volcanoes — Elysium Mons, Hecates Tholus and Albor Tholus. Though smaller than the Tharsis giants, this province is geologically vibrant, and the plains around it record some of the youngest volcanism and flooding on the planet, in places only tens of millions of years old.
To the southeast lie the Cerberus plains and Athabasca Valles, where fluid lava and catastrophic water floods swept across the surface in the recent Amazonian past. This youthfulness makes Elysium a key target for understanding whether Mars is truly geologically dead or merely dormant, and it neighbors NASA's InSight landing site.
Tharsis is bigger and older; Elysium is smaller but hosts some of the freshest lava on Mars.
Elysium Mons alone would tower over any volcano in Earth's Ring of Fire.