Using radar data NASA’s Magellan Project Planetary scientists have detected volcano-related flow features in two different regions of Venus: on the western slope of Sif Mons and in western Niobe Planitia.
This image shows the Schiffmons region with active volcanic areas highlighted in red. Image courtesy of Davide Sulcanese, IRSPS – Università d’Annunzio.
Venus’s thick atmosphere makes it difficult to make direct observations of the planet’s surface.
However, although global radar mapping performed by the Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s showed that Venus’s surface is covered with many volcanoes and was likely formed by extensive volcanic activity in the past, the role of volcanism in Venus’s geological present remained unclear.
However, 2023 Magellan data confirmed evidence of more recent activity from one volcanic vent on the planet’s surface.
In the new study, Davide Sulcanese, a researcher at D’Annunzio University, and his colleagues analyzed two sets of Magellan radar data taken in 1990 and 1992 to look for evidence of volcanic activity.
They found surface changes that could indicate volcanic activity in two areas with volcanic-related features: on the western slope of Mount Sif and in western Niobe Planitia.
After analyzing a range of possible causes, the authors suggest that these fluctuations were likely caused by fresh lava flows.
They suggest that not only is Venus currently a geologically active planet, but that volcanic activity is currently quite widespread.
They also suggest that volcanic activity on Venus is comparable to that on Earth, indicating that Venus is more volcanically active than previously thought.
Artist’s impression of an erupting volcano on Venus. Image courtesy of ESA / AOES Medialab.
“These maps suggest that Venus may be much more volcanically active than previously thought,” Dr Sulcanese said.
“Analysis of lava flows observed at two locations on Venus suggests that volcanic activity on Venus may rival that on Earth.”
“We interpret these signals as flows along the slopes and volcanic plains that, like fluids, may bypass obstacles such as shield volcanoes,” added Dr Marco Mastrogiuseppe, a researcher at Sapienza University of Rome.
“After ruling out other possibilities, we determined that the best interpretation is that these are new lava flows.”
“These new findings about Venus’s recent volcanic activity provide compelling evidence for the types of regions NASA’s upcoming VERITAS mission should target when it arrives at Venus,” said Dr. Suzanne Smrekar, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and VERITAS principal investigator.
“Our spacecraft has a suite of approaches to identify surface changes with much more comprehensiveness and resolution than Magellan’s images.”
“Finding evidence of activity even in the low-resolution Magellan data has great potential to revolutionize our understanding of this mysterious world.”
of result Published in this week’s journal Natural Astronomy.
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D. Sulcanese othersEvidence of ongoing volcanic activity on Venus revealed by Magellan radar. Nat AstronPublished online May 27, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02272-1
Source: www.sci.news
