Volcanic rises are more like islands than a continents. They are broad, sloping highlands over 1000 km across. Measurements suggest that there is hot magma deep beneath these rises that helps to buoy them up and support their mountains, as shown in this picture.
There are three particular types of volcanic rises:
- These are rises that contain two or more deep rift valleys. Atla Regio and Beta Regio are rift-dominated rises.
- Volcano-Dominated Rises
- These rises contain one or more large shield volcanoes. Western Eistla Regio and Imdr Regio are volcano-dominated rises.
- Corona-Dominated Rises
- These rises lack large rift valleys, like volcano-dominated rises. But instead of being dominated by shield volcanoes, their surfaces are dominated by coronae. Corona-dominated rises include Eastern Eistla Regio and Themis Regio.