Why aren’t there mountains that are 10 or 15 miles high on Earth?

594 views

Mt Everest is just under 5.5miles high. Olympus Mons on Mars is 16 miles high. Why aren’t there much larger mountains on Earth? What’s the highest a mountain can go on Earth?

In: 4987

21 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Don’t know but I found this: your starter answer…!

Mars lacks mobile tectonic plates
The extraordinary size of Olympus Mons is likely because Mars lacks mobile tectonic plates. Unlike on Earth, the crust of Mars remains fixed over a stationary hotspot, and a volcano can continue to discharge lava until it reaches an enormous height.

You are viewing 1 out of 21 answers, click here to view all answers.