What is the highest volcano on Earth above sea level?

What is the highest volcano on Earth above sea level? Ojos del Salado, on the Chile–Argentina border, is the answer.

This Andean volcano reaches roughly 6,879–6,893 metres above sea level, depending on the survey used. It is a complex stratovolcano with overlapping lava domes, flows, craters and smaller volcanic cones rather than one perfectly symmetrical cone.

Ojos del Salado is often described as dormant, but geological evidence shows Holocene activity, and its most recent known eruption is generally placed around 750 CE. Its high, extremely dry setting in the Atacama region helps explain the sparse ice and vegetation near the summit.

A common mix-up is Mauna Loa. Mauna Loa is the world’s largest active volcano by volume and rises dramatically from the ocean floor, but Ojos del Salado has the higher summit elevation above sea level. It is also Chile’s highest mountain and the Andes’ second-highest summit after Aconcagua.