{"id":217406,"date":"2025-05-15T04:06:46","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T18:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/?p=862969"},"modified":"2025-05-15T04:06:46","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T18:06:46","slug":"nasas-magellan-mission-reveals-possible-tectonic-activity-on-venus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=217406","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s Magellan Mission Reveals Possible Tectonic Activity on Venus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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6 min read<\/p>\n

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"Different<\/a><\/figure>
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New research suggests vast surface features on Venus called coronae continue to be shaped by tectonic processes. Observations of these features from NASA\u2019s Magellan mission include, clockwise from top left, Artemis Corona, Quetzalpetlatl Corona, Bahet Corona, and Fotla Corona.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Using archival data from the mission, launched in 1989, researchers have uncovered new evidence that tectonic activity may be deforming the planet\u2019s surface.<\/em><\/p>\n

Vast, quasi-circular features on Venus\u2019 surface may reveal that the planet has ongoing tectonics, according to new research based on data gathered more than 30 years ago by NASA\u2019s Magellan mission. On Earth, the planet\u2019s surface is continually renewed by the constant shifting and recycling of massive sections of crust, called tectonic plates, that float atop a viscous interior. Venus doesn\u2019t have tectonic plates, but its surface is still being deformed by molten material from below.<\/p>\n

Seeking to better understand the underlying processes driving these deformations, the researchers studied a type of feature called a corona. Ranging in size from dozens to hundreds of miles across, a corona is most often thought to be the location where a plume of hot, buoyant material from the planet\u2019s mantle rises, pushing against the lithosphere above. (The lithosphere includes the planet\u2019s crust and the uppermost part of its mantle.) These structures are usually oval, with a concentric fracture system surrounding them. Hundreds of coronae are known to exist on Venus.<\/p>\n

Published in the journal Science Advances, the new study<\/a> details newly discovered signs of activity at or beneath the surface shaping many of Venus\u2019 coronae, features that may also provide a unique window into Earth\u2019s past. The researchers found the evidence of this tectonic activity within data from NASA\u2019s Magellan<\/a> mission, which orbited Venus in the 1990s and gathered the most detailed gravity and topography data on the planet currently available.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoronae are not found on Earth today; however, they may have existed when our planet was young and before plate tectonics had been established,\u201d said the study\u2019s lead author, Gael Cascioli, assistant research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. \u201cBy combining gravity and topography data, this research has provided a new and important insight into the possible subsurface processes currently shaping the surface of Venus.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"artist\u2019s<\/a><\/figure>
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This artist\u2019s concept of the large Quetzalpetlatl Corona located in Venus\u2019 southern hemisphere depicts active volcanism and a subduction zone, where the foreground crust plunges into the planet\u2019s interior. A new study suggests coronae are the locations of several types of tectonic activity.<\/div>\n
NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Peter Rubin<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As members of NASA\u2019s forthcoming VERITAS<\/a> (Venus Emissivity, Radio science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy) mission, Cascioli and his team are particularly interested in the high-resolution gravity data the spacecraft will provide. Study coauthor Erwan Mazarico<\/a>, also at Goddard, will co-lead the VERITAS gravity experiment when the mission launches no earlier than 2031.<\/p>\n

Mystery Coronae<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Managed by NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Magellan used its radar system to see through Venus\u2019 thick atmosphere and map the topography of its mountains and plains. Of the geological features the spacecraft mapped, coronae were perhaps the most enigmatic: It wasn\u2019t clear how they formed. In the years since, scientists have found many coronae in locations where the planet\u2019s lithosphere is thin and heat flow is high<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoronae are abundant on Venus. They are very large features, and people have proposed different theories over the years as to how they formed,\u201d said coauthor Anna G\u00fclcher, Earth and planetary scientist at the University of Bern in Switzerland. \u201cThe most exciting thing for our study is that we can now say there are most likely various and ongoing active processes driving their formation. We believe these same processes may have occurred early in Earth\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The researchers developed sophisticated 3D geodynamic models that demonstrate various formation scenarios for plume-induced coronae and compared them with the combined gravity and topography data from Magellan. The gravity data proved crucial in helping the researchers detect less dense, hot, and buoyant plumes under the surface \u2014 information that couldn\u2019t be discerned from topography data alone. Of the 75 coronae studied, 52 appear to have buoyant mantle material beneath them that is likely driving tectonic processes.<\/p>\n

One key process is subduction: On Earth, it happens when the edge of one tectonic plate is driven beneath the adjacent plate. Friction between the plates can generate earthquakes, and as the old rocky material dives into the hot mantle, the rock melts and is recycled back to the surface via volcanic vents.<\/p>\n

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\"illustrations<\/a><\/figure>
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These illustrations depict various types of tectonic activity thought to persist beneath Venus\u2019 coronae. Lithospheric dripping and subduction are shown at top; below are and two scenarios where hot plume material rises and pushes against the lithosphere, potentially driving volcanism above it.<\/div>\n
Anna G\u00fclcher, CC BY-NC<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On Venus, a different kind of subduction is thought to occur around the perimeter of some coronae. In this scenario, as a buoyant plume of hot rock in the mantle pushes upward into the lithosphere, surface material rises and spreads outward, colliding with surrounding surface material and pushing that material downward into the mantle.<\/p>\n

Another tectonic process known as lithospheric dripping could also be present, where dense accumulations of comparatively cool material sink from the lithosphere into the hot mantle. The researchers also identify several places where a third process may be taking place: A plume of molten rock beneath a thicker part of the lithosphere potentially drives volcanism above it.<\/p>\n

Deciphering Venus<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This work marks the latest instance of scientists returning to Magellan data to find that Venus exhibits geologic processes that are more Earth-like than originally thought. Recently, researchers were able to spot erupting volcanoes, including vast lava flows that vented from Maat Mons<\/a>, Sif Mons, and Eistla Regio<\/a> in radar images from the orbiter.<\/p>\n

While those images provided direct evidence of volcanic action, the authors of the new study will need sharper resolution to draw a complete picture about the tectonic processes driving corona formation. \u201cThe VERITAS gravity maps of Venus will boost the resolution by at least a factor of two to four, depending on location \u2014 a level of detail that could revolutionize our understanding of Venus\u2019 geology and implications for early Earth,\u201d said study coauthor Suzanne Smrekar, a planetary scientist at JPL and principal investigator for VERITAS.<\/p>\n

Managed by JPL, VERITAS will use a synthetic aperture radar to create 3D global maps and a near-infrared spectrometer to figure out what the surface of Venus is made of.  Using its radio tracking system, the spacecraft will also measure the planet\u2019s gravitational field to determine the structure of Venus\u2019 interior. All of these instruments will help pinpoint areas of activity on the surface.<\/p>\n

For more information about NASA\u2019s VERITAS mission, visit:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/mission\/veritas\/<\/a><\/p>\n

News Media Contacts<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Ian J. O\u2019Neill
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

Karen Fox \/ Molly Wasser
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ molly.l.wasser@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n

2025-068<\/p>\n

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