According to a recent study, Venus, which is sometimes written off as a geologically dead planet, is significantly more active under its scorching surface than previously believed.
The geological churn of plate tectonics, which frequently recycles and shapes Venus‘ surface, is absent from Earth. For many years, scientists believed that Venus’ crust would progressively thicken without this mechanism as fresh rock piled on top of it. But underneath the surface of this globe, another type of planetary engine may be at work, one that, once it hits a certain threshold, causes the crust to melt or break off, preventing it from growing eternally.
“This breaking off or melting can put water and elements back into the planet’s interior and help drive volcanic activity,” said Justin Filiberto, a co-author of the paper and the deputy chief of NASA’s Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division in Houston. “It resets the playing field for how the geology, crust and atmosphere on Venus work together.”
Julia Semprich, a planetary scientist at The Open University in the United Kingdom, led the latest study, which utilised computer models to explore how various rock types in Venus’ crust might respond to the intense heat and pressure of the planet.
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According to the results, the planet’s crust goes through a process known as metamorphism, whereby the bottom layers peel off and sink deeper as the crust expands because they are heavier than the mantle below. According to the study, the planet’s crust is probably no thicker than 40 miles (65 km) at its maximum, and it may be considerably thinner in many locations.
“That is surprisingly thin, given conditions on the planet,” Filiberto mentioned in the statement. Despite the absence of plate tectonics, the researchers hypothesise that this process may account for Venus’s continued geological activity.
Recent analyses of archival data from NASA’s Magellan mission have also challenged long-held assumptions about Venus’s geological dormancy, revealing compelling evidence of volcanic activity as recent as the early 1990s.
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