Venus has almost 50 times as many volcanoes as previously thought
The hellscape of Venus is riddled with much more volcanoes than scientists thought.
Utilizing radar photographs taken by NASA’s Magellan spacecraft within the Nineties, researchers cataloged about 85,000 volcanoes strewn throughout the Venusian floor. That’s practically 50 occasions as many volcanoes as previous surveys counted. Planetary scientists Rebecca Hahn and Paul Byrne of Washington College in St. Louis debuted the map within the April JGR Planets.
Such a radical stock of volcanism on Venus may supply clues in regards to the planet’s inside, comparable to sizzling spots of magma manufacturing, Byrne says. And with the latest discovery that Venus is volcanically energetic, the map may additionally assist pinpoint locations to search for new eruptions (SN: 3/15/23).
Nearly all of the volcanoes that Hahn and Byrne discovered are lower than 5 kilometers huge. About 700 are 5 to 100 kilometers throughout, and about 100 are wider than 100 kilometers. The group additionally discovered many tight clusters of small volcanoes referred to as volcanic fields.
“We’ve a greater deal with of what number of volcanoes are on Venus than are on Earth,” the place most volcanoes are in all probability hidden beneath the oceans, Byrne says. However he doesn’t suppose the Magellan information inform the entire story of Venus’ volcanism. That spacecraft may see options as small as about 1 kilometer in diameter. Earth has “heaps and many volcanoes which might be far smaller than a kilometer throughout,” Byrne says. “That’s in all probability the case with Venus, too.”
We could quickly discover out. NASA’s VERITAS spacecraft and the European Area Company’s EnVision mission are slated to show their a lot sharper eyes on Venus’ infernal floor throughout the subsequent decade or so (SN: 6/2/21).
