Conclusions
Planetary geologists are only just now scratching the surface of the many eruptive styles and types of deposits recorded in Olympus Mons' long-lived geologic record. The advent of higher resolution images will permit more thorough investigations of borh the surface geology, and the types of eruptive processes preserved in the martian rock record.
Volcanic activity on Mars has been active since early Martian history, and may continue to be active in the not so near future. The last resurfacing event, as determined from crater statistical techniques, occurred at ~ 4 Ma on a glacial deposit of the northwest flank of the Olympus Mons (Neukum et al., 2004). It is very unlikely that microbes living in the soil (as proposed in the 'Volcanic Hazards' section) will actually be threatened by the Olympus Mons volcano, but it is fun to think about. With the new Mars Curiousity Rover exploring away, and addtional funding set aside for a seismometer to be sent to the surface of Mars (go to http://insight.jpl.nasa.gov/home.cfm if interested), we will learn significantly more information in the very near future to make assessments about both the habitability, and volcanic and tectonic activity on the Red Planet.
Volcanic activity on Mars has been active since early Martian history, and may continue to be active in the not so near future. The last resurfacing event, as determined from crater statistical techniques, occurred at ~ 4 Ma on a glacial deposit of the northwest flank of the Olympus Mons (Neukum et al., 2004). It is very unlikely that microbes living in the soil (as proposed in the 'Volcanic Hazards' section) will actually be threatened by the Olympus Mons volcano, but it is fun to think about. With the new Mars Curiousity Rover exploring away, and addtional funding set aside for a seismometer to be sent to the surface of Mars (go to http://insight.jpl.nasa.gov/home.cfm if interested), we will learn significantly more information in the very near future to make assessments about both the habitability, and volcanic and tectonic activity on the Red Planet.