The most massive volcano on Earth, with a footprint the size of New Mexico, crouches in the dark depths of the western Pacific Ocean. The base of the basaltic mound, Tamu Massif, may rival in area the largest known volcano in the solar system: Mars’ Olympus Mons. In 2010 and 2012, a team led by oceanographer William Sager, then at Texas A&M University, bounced sound waves off the deep-sea mountain to measure its size.
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