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GRAVITY ANOMALIES OVER VOLCANOES ON VENUS: IMPLICATIONS FOR LITHOSPHERIC THICKNESS AND VOLCANO HISTORY; Sean C . Solomon,
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015; Patrick J. McGovern and Mark Simons, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139; and James W. Head, Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912. Introduction. High-resolution gravity anomaly measurements by the Magellan spacecraft indicate that a number of the largest volcanoes on Venus are sites of significant positive free ar i anomalies. Volcanoes are of interest both as manifestations of magmatism and volcanic eruptive phenomena and as loads of known magnitude and dimensions on a planetary lithosphere. The gravitational signature of a volcano provides constraints on both issues that are independent of those obtained only from topography, imaging, or physical modeling. In this paper we utilize the latest representations of the gravity field of Venus to characterize the gravity anomalies of large volcanoes on the planet, to infer from those anomalies the effective elastic lithosphere beneath the volcanic loads, and to discuss the implications for the evolution of volcanic edifices on Venus. Approach. For each volcano greater than 100 krn in diameter identified from Magellan radar images [I], we have assessed whether a free air anomaly is resolvable on current representations of the free air gravity anomaly field. Both unfiltered and bandpass-filtered gravity fields have been examined. For those volcanoes with a resolvable anomaly, we have estimated the excess mass of the volcano through the application of Gauss's theorem to a bandpass-filtered map of the free air gravity field. From the excess mass and the edifice volume calculated from topography subjected to the same bandpass filter, we estimate an effective density for each volcano. These effective densities are compared with forward-model predictions of a simply parameterized compensation model (e.g., local Airy isostasy, elastic plate flexure) to derive the key model parameter for each volcano with a gravity anomaly signature. Gravity Fields. Our principal source of gravity field information for Venus is the latest spherical harmonic representation of the geoid [2]. The results cited below were obtained using geoid PMGN601, complete to harmonic degree and order 60 and including tracking data from both the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and Magellan through the end of cycle 4 in May of this year [2]. These results will be updated as improved fields at comparable resolution incorporating tracking data obtained since August, when Magellan achieved its present nearly circular orbit, become available. Where appropriate, regional field representations obtained by direct inversion of line-of-sight tracking data [e.g., 31 will also be used. Because most of the power in the geoid is at the longest wavelengths [2] and because many volcanoes are associated with larger-scale features in both the topography and free-air gravity fields, it is necessary to filter these fields to isolate the anomalies attributable to individual volcanoes. A highpass filter is necessary to remove the effects of longer wavelength features, and a lowpass filter is desirable to avoid the effect of angular order truncation in harmonic field representation. We have utilized a bandpass filter applied in the wavenumber domain to the harmonic free air gravity and topography fields. The filter is defined by two half-Gaussian curves in angular order; the cutoff and half width of each half-Gaussian are free parameters. Gravity Anomalies and EfSective Densities. For a filter in which the highpass edge has a halfamplitude at harmonic degree 32 and zero amplitude for degrees 20 and less and for which the lowpass is simply the original truncation of the harmonic field, a total of 14 free air gravity anomalies of 25 mgal or greater can be associated with large volcanoes on Venus. Surface free a r i anomalies for these features range up to 90 mgal, with magnitudes sensitive to the passband applied to the geoid. All of the volcanoes with resolved gravity anomalies are located on or associated with one of the broad volcanic rises: Beta, Phoebe, Dione, Eistla, Bell, and Atla Regiones. On the basis of their broad topographic swells, large ratios of long-wavelength geoid to topography [4], rifting, and magmatism, such rises are generally held to overlie sites of upper mantle upwelling [e.g., 51. The edifices of these volcanoes range from about 200 to 500 km in diameter, and the associated flow aprons range in diameter from 250 to 1000 km. The excess masses derived from the 14 resolved free air highs over volcanoes are (1-3)x1017

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GRAVITY ANOMALIES OVER VENUSIAN VOLCANOES: Solomon S.C. et al.

kg, and the edifice volumes calculated from similarly filtered topography are (0.5-1.5)x1014 m3. The effective volcano density, equal to the band-limited excess mass divided by the similarly bandlimited volume, varies from 1100 to 2400 kg/m3 and displays a weak inverse correlation with edifice volume (Figure 1). While excess mass and edifice volume depend on the details of the bandpass filter, effective density is relatively robust with respect to filter parameters. Elastic Plate Flexure Models. Because the present gravity field yields at most only a few independent pieces of information about the gravity signature of individual volcanoes, we choose to make quantitative inferences on the basis of comparisons with simple analytic forward models. The most reasonable simple model is that of loading of an elastic plate from above. We have calculated the effective density of conical volcano loads of a given radius and height for a range of thicknesses of a low-density crustal layer and of the elastic lithosphere. The effective density is obtained from the theoretical gravity field and from the predicted topography (load plus flexural response) subjected to a similar bandpass filter as the observed fields. Solutions for one set of models are shown in Figure 2. The effective density is strongly dependent on elastic lithosphere thickness T, and only weakly dependent on crustal thickness Tc. The effective density also depends on load radius (increasing for smaller loads) and, less strongly, on load magnitude. Inferences. The effective densities inferred from the free air gravity anomalies over large volcanoes on Venus require elastic plate thicknesses of 30-70 km. Such values for the elastic plate thickness are in the upper range of those reported on the basis of topographic profiles, interpreted in terms of lithospheric flexure, outward of several different types of large-scale feature on the planet [6-81. This result supports the view that the growth and maintenance of large volcanic edifices requires both a thick elastic or mechanical lithosphere, to support the mass of the load, and a strong lower crust, to resist ductile flow driven by the differential stresses associated with the large topographic relief [9]. Large volcanoes on Venus, with heights of several kilometers and diameters of hundreds of kilometers, must therefore have been restricted to times and locales when the above conditions were satisfied. That the large volcanoes with resolvable free a r gravity i anomalies are al associated with broad rises, sites of presumed mantle upwelling and therefore l heat flux at least as great as the planetary norm, suggests that the conditions of thick elastic lithosphere and strong lower crust may have held over most of the globe and over much of the history preserved in the geological record of the last 500 My [lo].

References. [I] J.W. Head et al., JGR, 97, 13153, 1992; [2] A.S. Konopliv et al., GRL, 20, 2403, 1993; [3] S.E. Smrekar, Eos Trans. AGU, Fall Mtg. Suppl., 74, 374, 1993; [4] M. Simons, B.H. Hager and S.C. Solomon, Science, submitted, 1993; [5] S.C. Solomon et al., JGR, 97, 13199, 1992; [6] S.C. Solomon and J.W. Head, GRL, 17, 1393, 1990; [7] D.T. Sandwell and G. Schubert, JGR, 97, 16069, 1992; [8] P.J. McGovern and S.C. Solomon, in Inter. Colloq. on Venus, p. 68, LPI, 1992; [9] S.E. Smrekar and S.C. Solomon, JGR, 97, 16121, 1992; [lo] G.G. Schaber et al., JGR, 97, 13257, 1992.
2 Psff. k/m3 I l l 1 ~ 1 1 1 1 ~ 1 1 1 1 ~ ~ 1 1 1 ~ l l I I ~ I

volcano: Radius = 200 Ian Height = 10 In a Density = 2.8 iAg/rn3

Tc=

0.4

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8 1 1 1 1 1 1 T 1 1 1

0.6

0.8 1.0 1.2 ~olume.10"m'

1.4

1.6

10

20

30

40 T km ,

50

60

70

Fig. 1. Effective densi peffversus bandpassfiltered edifice volume or 14 large volcanoes with resolvable free air gravity anomalies.

'Y

Fig. 2. Effective density for a flexurally compensated volcano load versus elastic plate thickness T, and crustal thickness Tc.

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