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What are the major features and landforms on the surface of Mars? They include vast volcanic terrain, enormous canyons and impact basins, as well as plains and landscapes shaped by ancient water. This visual tour covers 10 representative highlights—not an official NASA ranking—and shows what each reveals about the planet’s history.
Volcanic terrain: Tharsis and its giant volcanoes
Mars’s landscape records volcanism, impacts, crustal movement and atmospheric processes. One of its most striking patterns is concentrated volcanic terrain near the equator: the Tharsis province, a broad volcano-tectonic region that includes several major shield volcanoes. NASA and JPL’s global topography map identifies Olympus Mons, Alba Patera, Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons in this regional setting, with Valles Marineris nearby.
1. Tharsis
Tharsis is a regional province, not a single mountain. Its great shield volcanoes rise from a broad area of elevated terrain, making it useful to think of the province as a volcanic landscape rather than a collection of unrelated peaks.
2. Olympus Mons
Olympus Mons is a shield volcano and, NASA says, the largest volcano in the solar system. NASA’s current Mars facts page gives its height as more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) from base to summit. That is a base-to-summit measure; other NASA materials report different figures, so the values should not be treated as interchangeable without a shared measurement convention.
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- Mars in Motion – A Realistic Look at the Red Planet - Golden-red surface tones with volcanic ridges and weathered terrain bring Mars to life. An inspiring piece for space lovers and science fans alike.
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3. Alba Patera
Alba Patera is another major volcanic feature identified on NASA and JPL’s topography map within the Tharsis region. The map establishes its place among the province’s prominent volcanoes; it does not supply a comparable height or diameter for this tour.
4. Ascraeus Mons
Ascraeus Mons is one of the major shield volcanoes in the Tharsis province. Its inclusion alongside Olympus Mons illustrates the scale of Mars’s volcanic region: the standout is part of a broader volcanic system.
Rank #2
- Mars in Motion – A Realistic Look at the Red Planet - Golden-red surface tones with volcanic ridges and weathered terrain bring Mars to life. An inspiring piece for space lovers and science fans alike.
- Self-Rotating Technology Powered by Light - MOVA’s patented design silently spins the globe using ambient light and the Earth’s magnetic field — no batteries or cords required.
- Premium Build with Seamless Movement - A fluid-suspended inner globe rotates within a clear acrylic outer shell, offering a smooth, almost magical visual experience.
- More to Explore - Our larger Mars globe offers richer surface detail and stronger visual presence, ideal for offices and display cabinets.
- Gift-Worthy for Dreamers and Thinkers - A thoughtful present for science enthusiasts, educators, students, and anyone fascinated by space. MOVA Globes spark imagination and lasting conversations.
5. Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons
Pavonis Mons and Arsia Mons complete the map’s group of major Tharsis shield volcanoes. Together with Ascraeus Mons and Olympus Mons, they make clear why a map is essential: these landforms belong to a large regional pattern, not just a list of isolated peaks.
Canyon and rift terrain
6. Valles Marineris
Valles Marineris is a vast canyon system, not merely a single narrow crack. NASA reports that it is about 2,400 miles (3,870 kilometers) long, up to 370 miles (600 kilometers) wide and about 5.8 miles (9.3 kilometers) deep. Those three dimensions convey its scale more clearly than length alone. Its position near the Tharsis province is visible in NASA and JPL’s global topography map.
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Rank #3
- Globe Diameter : 24cm / 9.5"
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- Name : Explorer Red Mars Globe, 24cm/9.5"
- Color : Red (Mars surface) / Uses images from NASA
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Impact basins: immense scars and lowlands
7. Hellas Planitia
Hellas Planitia occupies a major impact basin in the southern hemisphere. NASA describes it as about 2,200 kilometers across, with some of Mars’s lowest elevations and a variety of landscapes. The basin’s low terrain offers a striking contrast to the elevated volcanic country of Tharsis. See NASA and JPL’s topography map and NASA’s Hellas Basin overview.
8. Argyre, Isidis and Utopia basins
Argyre, Isidis and Utopia are additional major impact basins named in NASA and JPL’s global topography description. They are useful landmarks in a planet shaped by impacts on a vast scale; the cited map description does not give dimensions for them. Their locations can be compared with Tharsis and Hellas on the global topography map.
Rank #4
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Plains and water-shaped landscapes
9. Ancient river valleys, deltas and lakebeds
Mars’s surface preserves evidence of a wetter past. NASA identifies ancient river networks, deltas and lakebeds, along with associated rocks and minerals, as signs that water once shaped the landscape. These landforms are not evidence that rivers and lakes still flow across the surface today; they are records of earlier conditions.
10. Polar regions and subsurface water ice
Water is present on Mars today as ice below the surface in polar regions, according to NASA’s Mars facts page. This subsurface ice should be distinguished from visible polar-cap landforms. The planet’s thin atmosphere makes it difficult for liquid water to persist at the surface, so evidence of ancient waterways does not mean stable surface water is common now.
How to read Mars’s surface
These ten highlights span different scales and origins: a volcanic province and its mountains, a canyon system, impact basins, and landscapes tied to past and present water. NASA’s global topography map is particularly useful for seeing how the major volcanoes, Valles Marineris and basins fit together spatially. Mars’s surface area is nearly the same as Earth’s dry land area, NASA notes, but that comparison is about surface area—not the planets’ overall size.
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