Pancake dome

A pancake dome is a strange type of volcano found on the planet Venus. They are extensively scattered on that planet and frequently form groups or clusters, though with smaller numbers of pancake domes in every group than is typical for the more ordinary shield volcanos. They are commonly found close to coronae and tesserae (large regions of highly distorted terrain, folded and fractured in two or three dimensions, supposed to be unique to Venus) in the lowland plains. Pancake domes are between 10 and 100 times superior than volcanic domes formed on Earth.

Pancake domes have a wide, flat profile alike to shield volcanos and are consideration to form from one large, slow eruption of thick silica-rich lava. They typically have a central pit- or bowl-like feature alike to a volcanic crater, but it is consideration that these pits form following the eruption as the lava cools and emits gas quite than being a vent from which the lava originated. The surface of pancake domes is covered with patterns of little cracks and faults.