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Maxwell Montes
The formation of these mountains is unclear. One theory says they formed volcanically such as a laccolith, while another says they were formed by compression such as the folded mountains on earth. Maxwell, as well as other high altitude areas of Venus, is thought to contain large quantities of iron pyrite ("fool's gold"). The mountain was named in 1970 after Scottish theoretical physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879).
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