Exploratour - Comparing the Surfaces of Earth and Mars

Continents

The table below presents a comparison of continents on Earth and Mars.

Earth


An image of the Earth's crust showing the continents as well as undersea topography.
Click on image for full size (630K GIF)
Map courtesy of the National Geographic Data Center/ U.S.G.S.

There are seven land masses on Earth called continents. Continents are landmasses that are raised above the rest of a planet's crust. Continents are made of material that is less dense than the rest of the terrestrial crust. This makes them lie about 4.6 km higher than the ocean floor, on average. The Earth's continents (from largest to smallest) are Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.

Mars


Two views of the surface of Mars. The upper image shows the Highlands, while the lower image shows the Tharsis Ridge.
Click on image for full size version (160K GIF)
Image from Mars Global Surveyor, NASA/JPL
There are the two regions on Mars which seem elevated above the rest of the crust. The first is a large elevated region in the lower half of the planet known as the Highlands. The other feature is known as the Tharsis Ridge or Bulge. It is the size of a small continent on Earth, or perhaps a large, volcanic island. These two features may be thought of as the continents of Mars.

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