Volcanology of Venus

The surface of Venus is dominated by volcanic features and has more

volcanoes than any other planet in the Solar System. It has a surface that is
90% basalt, and about 65% of the planet consists of a mosaic of volcanic lava
plains, indicating that volcanism played a major role in shaping its surface.
There are more than 1000 volcanic structures and possible periodic resurfacing
of Venus by floods of lava. The planet may have had a major global
resurfacing event about 500 million years ago,[1] from what scientists can tell
from the density of impact craters on the surface. Venus has an atmosphere
rich in carbon dioxide, with a density that is 90 times greater than Earth's
atmosphere.
The 8-km-high volcanoMaat Mons is
Even though there are over 1,600 major volcanoes on Venus, none are known
displayed in this perspective view of the
to be erupting at present and most are probably long extinct.[2] However, radar surface of Venus, with the vertical scale
sounding by the Magellan probe revealed evidence for comparatively recent multiplied by 22.5. Based onMagellan
volcanic activity at Venus's highest volcano Maat Mons, in the form of ash probe radar images.
flows near the summit and on the northern flank. Although many lines of
evidence suggest that Venus is likely to be volcanically active, present-day
eruptions at Maat Mons have not been confirmed.

Contents
1 Types of volcanoes
2 Recent volcanic activity
3 See also
4 References

Types of volcanoes
Venus has shield volcanoes, widespread lava flows and some unusual volcanoes called pancake domes and "tick-like" structures
which are not present on Earth. Pancake dome volcanoes are up to 15 km (9.3 mi) in diameter and less than 1 km (0.62 mi) in height
and are 100 times larger than those formed on Earth. They are usually associated with coronae and tesserae (large regions of highly
deformed terrain, folded and fractured in two or three dimensions, are unique to Venus). The pancakes are thought to be formed by
highly viscous, silica-rich lava erupting under Venus's high atmospheric pressure.

The "tick-like" structures are called scalloped margin domes. They are commonly called ticks because they appear as domes with
numerous legs. They are thought to have undergone mass wasting events such as landslides on their margins. Sometimes deposits of
debris can be seen scattered around them.

On Earth, volcanoes are mainly of two types: shield volcanoes and composite or stratovolcanoes. The shield volcanoes, for example
those in Hawaii, eject magma from the depths of the Earth in zones called hot spots. The lava from these volcanos is relatively fluid
and permits the escape of gases. Composite volcanos, such as Mount Saint Helens and Mount Pinatubo, are associated with tectonic
plates. In this type of volcano, the oceanic crust of one plate is sliding underneath the other in a subduction zone, together with an
inflow of seawater, producing a gummier lava that restricts the exit of the gases, and for that reason, composite volcanoes tend to
 erupt more
violently.

Radar mosaic of two 65 km (40 mi) wide (and less Computer-generated perspective view of
than 1 km (0.62 mi) high)pancake domes in pancake domes in Venus's Alpha Regio
Venus's Eistla region

On Venus, where there are no tectonic plates or seawater, volcanoes

Arachnoid surface feature on Venus
are mostly of the shield type. Nevertheless, the morphology of volcanoes on
Venus is different: on Earth, shield volcanoes can be a few tens of kilometres
wide and up to 10 km (6.2 mi) high in the case of Mauna Kea, measured from
the sea floor. On Venus, these volcanoes can cover hundreds of kilometres in
area, but they are relatively flat, with an average height of 1.5 km (0.93 mi).
Large volcanoes cause the Venusian lithosphere to flex downward because of
their enormous vertical loads, producing flexural moats and/or ring fractures
around the edifices.[3] Large volcano edifice loading also causes magma
chambers to fracture in a sill-like pattern, affecting magma propagation beneath
the surface.[4]

Other unique features of Venus's surface are novae (radial networks of dikes or
grabens) and arachnoids. A nova is formed when large quantities of magma are extruded onto the surface to form radiating ridges and
trenches which are highly reflective to radar. These dikes form a symmetrical network around the central point where the lava
emerged, where there may also be a depression caused by the collapse of themagma chamber.

Arachnoids are so named because they resemble a spider's web, featuring several concentric ovals surrounded by a complex network
of radial fractures similar to those of a nova. It is not known whether the 250 or so features identified as arachnoids actually share a
common origin, or are the result of different geological processes.[5]

Recent volcanic activity

Volcanism on Venus has taken place within the last 2.5 million years; however, there is no absolute proof that any volcano on Venus
has erupted recently. Recent radar imagery shows more than 1,000 volcanic structures and evidence of possible periodic resurfacing
of the planet by floods of lava.[6] In addition to the radar images, there is supporting evidence that volcanism has taken place,
including an unusual change in the amount of sulphur dioxide gas in the upper atmosphere. Sulphur dioxide is an important
component of volcanic outgassing. However, the sulphur dioxide in the lower atmosphere remains stable. This could mean that a
change in the global atmosphere caused the sulphur dioxide concentration to increase above the clouds. Even though the change in
the atmosphere may be evidence that there have been volcanoes that erupted in Venus, it is difficult to determine whether they
occurred or not.[5] In March 2014, the first direct evidence for ongoing volcanism was located, in the form of infrared "flashes" over
the edges of rift zone Ganis Chasma, near the shield volcano Maat Mons. These flashes were detectable during two or three
[7]
consequent Earth days in 2008 and 2009 and are thought to be caused either by hot gases or lava released from volcanic eruptions.

In April 2010, Suzanne E. Smrekar et al. published that Venus Express observed three volcanoes that have had eruptions about
250,000 years ago or less, which suggests that Venus is periodically resurfaced by lava flows.[8][9] She has proposed two missions to
Venus to elucidate the planet:Venus Origins Explorer (VOX), and VERITAS.
See also
Volcanology of Io
Volcanology of Mars

References
1. D.L. Bindschadler (1995)."Magellan: A new view of Venus' geology and geophysics" (http://www.agu.org/journals/rg/
rg9504S/95RG00281/index.html). American Geophysical Union. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
2. Volcanoes on Venus (http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/planet_volcano/venus/intro.html)Retrieved on 2007-08-18
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070817010156/http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/planet_volcano/venus/intro.h
tml) August 17, 2007, at theWayback Machine.
3. [McGovern and Solomon, 1998]
4. Galgana, et. al (2011)."Evolution of large Venusian volcanoes" (http://europa.agu.org/?view=article&uri=/journals/je/j
e1103/2010JE003654/2010JE003654.xml&t=2011,galgana) . American Geophysical Union. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
5. A New Episode of Volcanism on Venus. ESA: Science and technology. December 2, 2012
6. Battaglia, Steven M. (March 2016)."Venus: Could Resurfacing Events be Triggered by Sun's Oscillations through
the Galactic Mid-Plane?"(http://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2016/pdf/1090.pdf) (PDF). The 47th Lunar and
Planetary Science Conference.
7. "Hot lava flows discovered on Venus" (http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Venus_Express/Hot_lava_fl
ows_discovered_on_Venus). 2015.
8. Smrekar, Suzanne E.; Stofan, Ellen R.; Mueller, Nils; Treiman, Allan; Elkins-Tanton, Linda; Helbert, Joern; Piccioni,
Giuseppe; Drossart, Pierre, "Recent Hot-Spot V olcanism on Venus from VIRTIS Emissivity Data", Science,
Forthcoming, Bibcode:2010Sci...328..605S (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2010Sci...328..605S) ,
doi:10.1126/science.1186785(https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.1186785) .
9. Overbye, Dennis (April 9, 2010),"Spacecraft Spots Active Volcanoes on Venus" (https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/1
0/science/space/10venus.html), New York Times.

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