04-16-2014, 04:39 PM
Yellowstone erupts a huge quantity at one time, but doesn't form a large mountain and has only erupted a few times. So it's hard to call it the "largest volcano" by any way you can measure it.
As for Tamu Massif, it is larger in volume than Mauna Loa (by a lot), but it seems a little questionable whether it's really a single volcano. For one thing, it has three peaks. It also formed at a place where plates were spreading apart, and it would be very common to have multiple volcanos. I don't know enough geology to completely understand the arguments, but it seems that it's uncertain whether it was one or three.
As for Tamu Massif, it is larger in volume than Mauna Loa (by a lot), but it seems a little questionable whether it's really a single volcano. For one thing, it has three peaks. It also formed at a place where plates were spreading apart, and it would be very common to have multiple volcanos. I don't know enough geology to completely understand the arguments, but it seems that it's uncertain whether it was one or three.