Scientists have identified dozens of volcanic structures on Venus that appear to have been recently active, suggesting the planet may be geologically dynamic and not a dormant world as long thought.
The research focused on ring-like structures called coronae, caused by an upwelling of hot rock from deep within the planet’s interior, and provided compelling evidence of widespread recent tectonic and magma activity on Venus’s surface.
Many scientists had long thought that Venus, lacking the plate tectonics that gradually reshape Earth’s surface, was essentially dormant geologically for the past half billion years.
“Our work shows that some of that interior heat is still able to reach the surface even today. Venus is clearly not so geologically dead or dormant as previously thought,” said Earth and planetary scientist Anna Gülcher of the Institute of Geophysics in Zurich, lead author of the research published on Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.
The researchers determined the type of geological features that could exist only in a recently active corona - a telltale trench surrounding the structure.
Then they scoured radar images of Venus from NASA’s Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s to find coronae that fit the bill.
Of 133 coronae examined, 37 appear to have been active in the past 2 million to 3 million years, a blink of the eye in geological time.
“In my opinion, many of these structures are indeed active today,” said University of Maryland geophysicist and study co-author Laurent Montesi.
"This study significantly changes the view of Venus from a mostly inactive planet to one whose interior is still churning and can feed many active volcanoes," he added in a statement.
Coronae are essentially fields of lava flows and major faults spanning a large circular area. Many of the 37 reside within in a gigantic ring in the planet’s Southern Hemisphere, including a colossal corona called Artemis 1,300 miles (2,100 km) in diameter.
Venus is Earth’s closest and just slightly smaller planetary neighbour.
The planet is covered by clouds of sulfuric acid and has surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.
