Scientists identify 37 recently active volcanic structures on Venus from radar images.

Extract from ABC News

Posted 8 minutes ago

The discovery paints the picture of Venus as a geologically dynamic planet.(NASA/JPL/USGS/Handout via REUTERS.)

Scientists have identified 37 volcanic structures on Venus that appear to be recently active — and probably still are today.

Key points:

• The research provides compelling evidence of widespread recent tectonic and magma activity on Venus's surface
• Many scientist believe the planet has been essentially geologically dormant for the past half-billion years
• Of 133 structures examined, 37 appear to have been active in the past 2 million to 3 million years, which is a blink of the eye in geological time.

The discovery paints the picture of a geologically dynamic planet which is not dormant 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, researchers said.

Many scientists had long thought Venus, lacking the plate tectonics that gradually reshape Earth's surface, was essentially geologically dormant for the past half-billion years.

"Our work shows that some of that interior heat is still able to reach the surface even today," said Earth and planetary scientist Anna Gülcher, lead author of the research published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

"Venus is clearly not so geologically dead or dormant as previously thought."

The researchers determined the type of geological features that could exist only in a recently active corona, which is a telltale trench surrounding the structure.

Venus is covered by clouds of sulfuric acid and has surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.(NASA/JPL/GSFC/Roscosmos)

Then they scoured radar images of Venus taken from NASA's Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s in search of coronae with trenches.

Of 133 coronae examined, 37 appear to have been active in the past two million to three million years, which is 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.

Coronae are essentially fields of lava flows and major faults spanning a large circular area.

Many of the 37 structures reside within in a gigantic ring in the planet's Southern Hemisphere, including a colossal corona called Artemis, about 2,100 km in diameter.

Venus is Earth's closest and slightly smaller planetary neighbour.

It is covered by clouds of sulfuric acid and has surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead.

Reuters