I Can’t Sleep - Olympus Mons | Gentle Bedtime Reading for Sleep

Episode Date: July 20, 2021

Ease into rest with this calm bedtime reading on Olympus Mons, a peaceful way to help with insomnia and sleepless nights. Benjamin’s soothing voice explores the story of the largest volcano in the Solar System, towering above the Martian surface with awe-inspiring scale. His gentle cadence transforms planetary science into soft, fact-filled narration that quiets the mind. This is not whispering or hypnosis—just calm storytelling and education designed to reduce stress, ease anxiety, and bring restful sleep. Press play, close your eyes, and let Olympus Mons guide you into dreams. Want More? Request a Topic: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/request-a-topic Ad-Free Episodes: https://icantsleep.supportingcast.fm/ Shop Sleep-Friendly Products: https://www.icantsleeppodcast.com/sponsors Join the Discussion on Discord: https://discord.gg/myhGhVUhn7 This content is derived from the Wikipedia article on Olympus Mons, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. Read the full article: Wikipedia – Olympus Mons. Happy sleeping! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to a Glassbox media podcast. What if I told you that most of the modern day self-help advice you've been hearing could actually make you worse? The key to a better life isn't about feel-good gimmicks that sound catchy. The Mentally Stronger Podcast gives you access to a licensed therapist who shares science-backed tools that will actually change your life. Hi, I'm Amy Morin, psychotherapist, mental strength trainer, and international best-selling author. In each episode, we cover research-back strategies, like how to stop relying on willpower and start creating habits for lasting change. And the five mental strength-building exercises you can do from your couch.

I also speak to world-class experts like Dr. Nicole Kane, who shares how to permanently heal anxiety by addressing the root cause. With over 200 episodes in our catalog, this podcast is for you if you're ready to crush self-doubt, conquer challenges, and become stronger than ever with therapist-approved strategies that can change your life. Listen to Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin, wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the I Can't Sleep podcast, where I read random articles from across the web to bore you to sleep with my soothing voice. I'm your host, Benjamin Boster. Today's episode is from a Wikipedia article titled

Olympus Mons. Olympus Mons, Latin for Mount Olympus, is an enormous shield volcano on the planet Mars. The volcano has a height of over 21.9 kilometers, as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Ultimiter, Mola. Olympus Mons is about two and a half times Mount Everest, height above sea level. It is one of the largest volcanoes, the tallest planetary mountain, and the second tallest mountain currently discovered in the solar system, comparable to Re Silva

on Vesta. It is often cited as the largest volcano in the solar system. However, by some metrics, other volcanoes are considerably larger. Alba Mons, northeast of Olympus Mons, has roughly 19 times the surface area, but is only about one-third the height. Pele, the largest known volcano on Io, is also much larger at roughly four times the surface area, but is considerably flatter. Additionally, Tarsis rise, a large volcanic structure on Mars, of which Olympus Mons is apart, has been interpreted as an enormous spreading volcano. If this is confirmed, Tarsus would be by far the largest volcano in the solar system.

Olympus Mons is the youngest of the large volcanoes on Mars, having formed during Mars' Hesperian period, with eruptions continuing well into the Amazonian. It had been known to astronomers since the late 19th century as the albedo feature, Nix Olympica, Latin for Olympic snow. Its mountainous nature was suspected well before space probes confirmed its identity as a mountain. The volcano is located in Mars's western hemisphere just off the northwestern edge of the Tarsus bulge. The western portion of the volcano lies in the Amazonis quadrangle, and the central and eastern portions in the adjoining Tarsus quadrangle. Two impact craters on Olympus Mons have been assigned provisional names by the International Astronomical Union.

They are the 15.6 kilometer Karzak crater and the 10.4 kilometer Pangbosch crater. The craters are notable for being two of several suspected source areas for shurgatites, the most abundant class of Martian meteorites. Description. As a shield volcano, Olympus Mons resembles the shape of the large volcanoes making up the Hawaiian islands. The edifice is about 600 kilometers wide. Because the mountain is so large, the complex structure at its edges, allocating a height

to it is difficult. Olympus Mon stands 21 kilometers above the Mars Global Datum and its local relief from the foot of the cliffs which form its northwest margin to its peaks is over 21 kilometers a little over twice the height of Mauna Kea has measured from its base on the ocean floor the total elevation change from the plains of Amazonas Planicia over 1,000 kilometers to the northwest, to the summit approaches 26 kilometers.

The summit of the mountain has six nested calderas, collapsed craters, forming an irregular depression 60 kilometers by 80 kilometers across, and up to 3.2 kilometers deep. The volcano's outer edge consists of an escarpment or cliff up to 8 kilometers tall, although obscured by lava flows in places. A feature unique among the shield volcanoes of Mars, which may have been created by enormous flank landslides. Olympus Mons covers an area of about 300,000 kilometers squared,

which is approximately the size of Italy or the Philippines, and it is supported by a 70-kilometer-thick lithosphere. 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. Being a shield volcano, Olympus Mons has a very gently sloping profile. The average slope on the volcano's flank is only five degrees. Slopes are steepest near the middle part of the flanks, and grow shallower toward the base, giving the flanks a concave upward profile. The shape of Olympus Mons

is distinctly asymmetrical. Its flanks are shallower and extend farther from the summit in the northwestern direction than they do to the southeast. The volcano's shape and profile have been likened to a circus tent, held up by a single pole that is shifted off center. Due to the size and shallow slopes of Olympus Mons, an observer standing on the Martian surface would be unable to view the entire profile of the volcano, even from a great distance. The curvature of the planet and the volcano itself would obscure such a synoptic view. Similarly, an observer near the summit would be unaware of standing on a very high mountain, as the slope of the volcano could extend far beyond the horizon, a mere three kilometers away. The typical atmospheric pressure

at the top of Olympus Mons is 72 pascals, about 12% of the average Martian surface pressure of 600 pascals. Both are exceedingly low by terrestrial's standards. By comparison, the atmospheric pressure at the summit of Mount Everest is 32,000 pascales, or about 32% of Earth's sea level pressure. Even so, high-altitude orograph clouds frequently drift over the Olympus Mon summit, and airborne Martian dust is still present. Although the average Martian surface atmospheric pressure is less than 1% of Earth, the much lower gravity of Mars increases the atmosphere's scale height. In other words, Mars' atmosphere is expansive. and does not drop off in density with height as sharply as Earth.

The composition of Olympus Mons is approximately 44% silicates 17.5% iron oxides, which give the planet its red coloration, 7% aluminum, 6% magnesium, 6% calcium, 6% calcium, and particularly high proportions of sulfur oxide, with 7%. These results point to the surface being largely composed of basalts and other mafic rocks, which would have erupted as low viscosity lava flows, and hence lead to the low gradients on the surface of the planet. Olympus Mons is an unlikely landing location for automated space probes in the near future. The high elevations preclude parachute-assisted landings, because,

the atmosphere is insufficiently dense to slow the spacecraft down. Moreover, Olympus Mons stands in one of the dustiest regions of Mars. A mantle of fine dust obscures the underlying bedrock, possibly making rock samples hard to come by, and likely posing a significant obstacle for rovers. Geology Olympus Mons is the result of many thousands of highly fluid basaltic lava flows that poured from volcanic events over a long period of time.

The Hawaiian Islands exemplify similar shield volcanoes on a smaller scale. Like the basalt volcanoes on Earth, Martian basaltic volcanoes are capable of erupting enormous quantities of ash. Due to the reduced gravity of Mars compared to Earth, there are lesser buoyant forces on the magma rising out of the crust. In addition, the magma chambers are thought to be much larger and deeper than the ones found on Earth. The flanks of Olympus Mons are made up of innumerable lava flows and channels.

Many of the flows have levees along their own. margins, the cooler outer margins of the flows solidify, leaving a central trough of molten flowing lava. Partially collapsed lava tubes are visible as chains of pit craters, and broad lava fans formed by lava emerging from intact surface tubes are also common. In places along the volcano's base, solidified lava flows can be seen spilling in into the surrounding plains, forming broad aprons, and burying the basal escarpment. Crater counts from high-resolution images

taken by the Mars Express Orbiter in 2004 indicate that lava flows on the northwestern flank of Olympus Mons range in age from 115 million years old to only 2 million years old. These ages are very recent geological terms, suggesting that the mountain may still be volcanically active, though in a very quiescent and episodic fashion. The caldera complex at the peak of the volcano is made of at least six overlapping calderas and caldera segments. Calderas are formed by roof collapse following depletion

and withdrawal of the subsurface magma chamber after an eruption. Each Each caldera thus represents a separate pulse of volcanic activity on the mountain. The largest and oldest caldera segment appears to have formed as a single large lava lake. Using geometric relationships of caldera dimensions from laboratory models, scientists have estimated that the magma chamber associated with the largest caldera on Limpos mons lies at a depth of about 32 kilometers below the caldera floor. Crater-sized frequency distributions on the caldera floors indicate the caldera range in age from 350 million years ago

to about 150 million years ago. All probably formed within 100 million years of each other. Olympus Mons is asymmetrically structured as well as topographically. The longer, more shallow, a northwestern flank displays extensional features, such as large lumps and normal faults. In contrast, the volcano's steeper southeastern side as features indicating compression, including step-like terraces in the volcano's mid-flank region, interpreted as thrust faults, and a number of wrinkle ridges located at the basal escarpment.

why opposite sizes of mountain should show different styles of deformation may lie in how large shield volcanoes grow laterally and in how variations within the volcanic substrate have affected the mountain's final shape. Large shield volcanoes grow not only by adding material to their flanks as erupted lava, but also by spreading laterally at their bases. As a volcano grows in size, the stress field underneath the volcano changes from compressional to extensional. A subterrain rift may develop at the base of the volcano,

causing the underlying crust to spread apart. If the volcano rests on sediments containing mechanically weak layers, e.g. beds of water-saturated clay, detachment zones may develop in weak layers. The extensional stresses in the detachment zones can produce giant landslides and normal faults on the volcano's flanks, leading to the formation of a basal escarpment. Further from the volcano, these detachment zones

can express themselves as succession of overlapping gravity-driven, rust faults. This mechanism has long been cited as an explanation of the Olympus Monsorial deposits. Olympus Mons lies at the edge of the Tarsus bulge, an ancient vast volcanic plateau likely formed by the end of the Neocyan period. During the Hesperian, when Olympus Mons began to form, the volcano was located on a shallow slope that descended from the high in Tarsus into the northern lowland basins. Over time, these basins received large volumes of sediment eroded from Tarsus and the southern highlands. The sediments likely contained abundant Neocyan-aged phyllosilocytes, clays, formed during an early period on Mars when surface water was abundant, and were thickest in the northwest where basin depth was

greatest. As the volcano grew through lateral spreading, low friction detachment zones preferentially developed in the thicker sediment layers to the northwest, creating the basal escarpment and widespread lobes of the Orioli material. Spreading also occurred to the southeast, however it was more constrained in the direction by the Tarsus rise, which presented a higher friction zone at the volcano's base. Friction was higher in that direction because the sediments were thinner and probably consisted of coarser-grained material, resistant to sliding. The component and rugged basement rocks of Tarsus acted as an additional source of friction.

This inhibition of southeasterly basal spreading in Olympus Mons could account for the structural and topographic asymmetry of the mountain. Numerical models of particle dynamics involving lateral differences and friction along the base of Olympus Mons have been shown to reproduce the volcano's present shape and asymmetry fairly well. It has been speculated that the detachment along the weak layers was aided by the presence of high-pressure water in the sediment-poor spaces. which would have interesting astrobiological implications.

If water-saturated zones still exist in sediments under the volcano, they would likely have been kept warm by a high geothermal gradient and residual heat from the volcano's magma chamber. Potential springs or siebs around the volcano would offer exciting possibilities for detecting microbial life. Early observations and naming Olympus Mons and a few other volcanoes in the Tarsus region stand high enough to reach above the frequent Martian dust storms

recorded by telescopic observers as early as the 19th century. The astronomer Patrick Moore pointed out that Skiaparelli had found that his notice, Gordas, and Olympic snow were almost the only features to be seen during the dust storms, and guessed correctly that they must be high. The Mariner 9 spacecraft arrived in orbit around Mars in 1971 during a global dust storm. The first objects to become visible as the dust began to settle, the tops of the Tarsus volcanoes, demonstrated that the altitude of these features greatly exceeded that of any mountain found on Earth,

as astronomers expected. Observations of the planet from Mariner 9 confirmed that Nix Olympica was a volcano. Ultimately, astronomers adopted the name Olympus Mons for the albedo feature known as Nix Olympica, regional setting and surrounding features. Olympus Mons is located between the northwestern edge of the Tarsus region and the eastern edge of the Tarsus region and the eastern edge of Amazonas Plenicia. It stands about 1,200 kilometers from the other three large Martian shield volcanoes, collectively called the Tarsus Montes, Arzea Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Ascrius Mons.

The Tarsus Montes are slightly smaller than Olympus Mons. A wide annular depression or moat about two kilometers deep surrounds the base of Olympus Mons and is thought to be due to the volcano's immense weight pressing down on the Martian crest. The depth of this depression is greater on the northwest side of the mountain than on the southeast side. Olympus Mons is partially surrounded by a region of distinctive grooved or corrugated terrain known as the Olympus Mons Oriole. The Oriole consists of several large lobes. Northwest of the volcano, the Oriole extends a distance of up to 750 kilometers,

and is known as the Lycus Sulci. East of Olympus Mons, the Oriole is partially covered by lava flows, but where it is exposed, it goes by different names, I guess Solchi, for example. The origin of the Oriole remains debated, but it was likely formed by huge landslides, or gravity-driven thrust sheets that sloft off the edges of the Olympus Mon shield.