New Evidence Suggests Pervasive Volcanism on Venus

doi:10.5281/zenodo.11659692

Published June 14, 2024 | Version v1

Publication Open

New Evidence Suggests Pervasive Volcanism on Venus

Lenny

Recent analysis of decades-old data from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft indicates that present-day volcanism on Venus might be far more widespread than previously believed. Researchers report in the May 27 issue of Nature Astronomy that they have identified signs of fresh lava flows on Venusian surfaces between 1990 and 1992.

“This definitely is another step in the path to understanding Venus as a living, breathing world,” says planetary scientist Paul Byrne of Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study. Venus, nearly the same size as Earth, was long thought to be geologically inactive. However, many scientists speculated that Venus should have similar levels of internal heat, driving volcanic and seismic activity.

Last year, a team reported finding a volcanic vent that changed shape and possibly emitted lava in Magellan data, marking the first definitive evidence of such activity on Venus (SN: 3/15/23).

The new study expands on this discovery by searching for signs of volcanism across Venus’ vast surface, which is three times the area of Earth's dry land. The researchers focused on the western slopes of Sif Mons, a large shield volcano, and Niobe Planitia, a flat region with volcanic vents. Magellan’s radar images showed long, sinuous features that appeared between two of the spacecraft’s passes over these areas.

Planetary scientist David Sulcanese of D’Annunzio University in Chieti-Pescara, Italy, and his team considered the possibility that these features were radar artifacts or caused by landslides. However, the features followed the local topography, suggesting they were real lava flows, and they occurred in flat areas where landslides are unlikely.

“They were able to show, I think convincingly, that in these two instances the changes in how the surface looks in radar are best explained by there being lava flows,” says Byrne.

Given the relatively low resolution of Magellan’s data and Venus’ vast land area, uncovering these signs of active volcanism required meticulous effort. Byrne suspects that there may be many more such signs to be found. “If you had an army of people day in and day out looking through the entire surface, there’s likely much more to be found,” he says.

Both Byrne and the study authors agree that Venus could have as much volcanic activity as Earth. NASA’s upcoming DAVINCI and VERITAS missions, set to launch in the next decade, will map the Venusian surface in greater detail, making it easier to identify signs of volcanic activity.

Files

New Evidence Suggests Pervasive Volcanism on Venus.txt

Files (2.6 kB)

Name	Size	Download all
New Evidence Suggests Pervasive Volcanism on Venus.txt md5:1e491ed66aa4674a25fe0532d64c7e6f	2.6 kB	Preview Download

	All versions	This version
Views	25	25
Downloads	4	4
Data volume	10.3 kB	10.3 kB

New Evidence Suggests Pervasive Volcanism on Venus

Creators

Description

Files

New Evidence Suggests Pervasive Volcanism on Venus.txt

Files (2.6 kB)