Volcanoes on Venus spewed lava as recently as three centuries ago, say Suzanne Smrekar of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and her colleagues. The evidence points to a geologically active planet.
Using data from the European Space Agency's Venus Express orbiter, the researchers looked at the surface composition of three hotspots — locations analogous to Hawaii — where plumes from the hot mantle pierce the crust (pictured above). The surfaces were extraordinarily fresh, leading to an age estimate for the lava flows of between 2.5 million and 250 years.
This suggests that Venus vents its internal heat in regular small eruptions, resurfacing itself piecemeal. This contrasts with the long-held view that Venus undergoes catastrophic episodes in which the crust founders and the entire planet is bathed in molten rock.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Planetary science: Venus vents. Nature 464, 960 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/464960d
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/464960d
