Possible Volcanic Activity on Venus Comparable to Earth

The assumption that the volcano activity on Venus is more extensive than formerly thought is being considered.

Data collected from NASA's Magellan spacecraft from the years 1990 to 1992 suggests that fresh lava flows may have occurred on the Venusian surface. The evidence for this was published in Nature Astronomy on May 27.

Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist from Washington University in St. Louis not connected with the study, states that this finding marks another milestone in comprehending Venus as a 'living, breathing world'.

Venus, despite being nearly the same size as Earth, was historically viewed as geologically inactive. However, many scientists hypothesized that, like Earth, Venus may also possess significant levels of internal heat, which typically leads to geological phenomena such as volcanoes and quakes.

Just last year, a team reported observing a volcanic vent on Venus undergoing a transformation and potentially releasing lava. This represented the first concrete evidence of such activity on Venus.

The recent study follows a similar pattern, combing through Venus' expansive surface — three times the size of Earth's dry land — in search of signs of volcanism. Evidence of such activities was found on the western slopes of Sif Mons, a major shield volcano, and Niobe Planitia, a flat region punctuated with volcanic vents. In these locations, Magellan’s radar images depicted long sinuous features emerging between two instances of the spacecraft's passes over the planet.

The possibility that these features may be radar data artifacts or the product of occurrences such as landslides was evaluated by planetary scientist David Sulcanese from D’Annunzio University in Chieti-Pescara, Italy, and his team. They argue that the features' adherence to the local topography indicates that they were in fact traversing Venus' surface, and were found in relatively flat regions where landslides would not be expected.

Byrne corroborates their findings, stating he believes the changes in surface appearance captured by the radar strongly indicate the presence of lava flows.

However, due to the relatively low resolution of Magellan's data and the vastness of Venus' land area, only a handful of signs of active volcanism have been discovered—an endeavor that required meticulous effort. Byrne anticipates that more evidence awaits discovery. “If you had a group of people meticulously scrutinizing every part of the surface each day, you’d probably discover even more,” he posits.

Byrne and the study's authors are in agreement that Venus could potentially have a level of volcanic activity equal to that of Earth. The upcoming NASA missions DAVINCI and VERITAS, which are forecasted to embark in the next decade, aim to map Venus' surface with high accuracy, thus simplifying the discovery of further signs of volcanism.