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   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
    Evidence that Venus is volcanically active    
      
     Date:   
         March 15, 2023   
     Source:   
         University of Alaska Fairbanks   
     Summary:   
         Venus appears to have volcanic activity, according to a new research   
         paper that offers strong evidence to answer the lingering question   
         about whether Earth's sister planet currently has eruptions and   
         lava flows.   
      
         Venus, although similar to Earth in size and mass, differs   
         markedly in that it does not have plate tectonics. The boundaries   
         of Earth's moving surface plates are the primary locations of   
         volcanic activity. New research has revealed a nearly 1-square-mile   
         volcanic vent that changed in shape and grew over eight months in   
         1991. Changes on such a scale on Earth are associated with volcanic   
         activity, whether through an eruption at the vent or movement of   
         magma beneath the vent that causes the vent walls to collapse and   
         the vent to expand.   
      
      
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   FULL STORY   
   ==========================================================================   
   Venus appears to have volcanic activity, according to a new research   
   paper that offers strong evidence to answer the lingering question about   
   whether Earth's sister planet currently has eruptions and lava flows.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Venus, although similar to Earth in size and mass, differs markedly in   
   that it does not have plate tectonics. The boundaries of Earth's moving   
   surface plates are the primary locations of volcanic activity.   
      
   New research by University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute   
   research professor Robert Herrick revealed a nearly 1-square-mile volcanic   
   vent that changed in shape and grew over eight months in 1991. Changes   
   on such a scale on Earth are associated with volcanic activity, whether   
   through an eruption at the vent or movement of magma beneath the vent   
   that causes the vent walls to collapse and the vent to expand.   
      
   The research was published today in the journal Science.   
      
   Herrick studied images taken in the early 1990s during the first   
   two imaging cycles of NASA's Magellan space probe. Until recently,   
   comparing digital images to find new lava flows took too much time,   
   the paper notes. As a result, few scientists have searched Magellan data   
   for feature formation.   
      
   "It is really only in the last decade or so that the Magellan data has   
   been available at full resolution, mosaicked and easily manipulable by   
   an investigator with a typical personal workstation," Herrick said.   
      
   The new research focused on an area containing two of Venus' largest   
   volcanoes, Ozza and Maat Mons.   
      
   "Ozza and Maat Mons are comparable in volume to Earth's largest volcanoes   
   but have lower slopes and thus are more spread out," Herrick said.   
      
   Maat Mons contains the expanded vent that indicates volcanic activity.   
      
   Herrick compared a Magellan image from mid-February 1991 with a   
   mid-October 1991 image and noticed a change to a vent on the north side   
   of a domed shield volcano that is part of the Maat Mons volcano.   
      
   The vent had grown from a circular formation of just under 1 square mile   
   to an irregular shape of about 1.5 square miles.   
      
   The later image indicates that the vent's walls became shorter, perhaps   
   only a few hundred feet high, and that the vent was nearly filled to   
   its rim. The researchers speculate that a lava lake formed in the vent   
   during the eight months between the images, though whether the contents   
   were liquid or cooled and solidified isn't known.   
      
   The researchers offer one caveat: a nonvolcanic, earthquake-triggered   
   collapse of the vent's walls might have caused the expansion. They note,   
   however, that vent collapses of this scale on Earth's volcanoes have   
   always been accompanied by nearby volcanic eruptions; magma withdraws   
   from beneath the vent because it is going somewhere else.   
      
   The surface of Venus is geologically young, especially compared to all   
   the other rocky bodies except Earth and Jupiter's moon Io, Herrick said.   
      
   "However, the estimates of how often eruptions might occur on Venus have   
   been speculative, ranging from several large eruptions per year to one   
   such eruption every several or even tens of years," he said.   
      
   Herrick contrasts the lack of information about Venusian volcanism with   
   what is known about Jupiter's moon Io and about Mars.   
      
   "Io is so active that multiple ongoing eruptions have been imaged every   
   time we've observed it," he said.   
      
   On a geological time scale, relatively young lava flows indicate Mars   
   remains volcanically active, Herrick said.   
      
   "However, nothing has occurred in the 45 years that we have been observing   
   Mars, and most scientists would say that you'd probably need to watch   
   the surface for a few million years to have a reasonable chance of seeing   
   a new lava flow," he said.   
      
   Herrick's research adds Venus to the small pool of volcanically active   
   bodies in our solar system.   
      
   "We can now say that Venus is presently volcanically active in the sense   
   that there are at least a few eruptions per year," he said. "We can   
   expect that the upcoming Venus missions will observe new volcanic flows   
   that have occurred since the Magellan mission ended three decades ago,   
   and we should see some activity occurring while the two upcoming orbital   
   missions are collecting images."  Co-author Scott Hensley of NASA's Jet   
   Propulsion Laboratory performed the modeling for the research.   
      
       * RELATED_TOPICS   
             o Space_&_Time   
                   # Solar_System # Venus # Space_Missions #   
                   Space_Exploration # NASA # Astronomy # Moon # Space_Probes   
       * RELATED_TERMS   
             o Venus o Volcano o Transit_of_Venus o Jupiter o Planet o Moon   
             o Neptune o Solar_eclipse   
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Alaska_Fairbanks. Note:   
   Content may be edited for style and length.   
      
      
   ==========================================================================   
   Journal Reference:   
      1. Robert R. Herrick, Scott Hensley. Surface changes observed on   
      a Venusian   
         volcano during the Magellan mission. Science, 2023; DOI: 10.1126/   
         science.abm7735   
   ==========================================================================   
      
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/03/230315143900.htm   
      
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