Venus appears to have volcanic activity, according to a new research paper that offers strong evidence to answer the lingering question about whether Earth’s sister planet currently has eruptions and lava flows.
Venus, although similar to Earth in size and mass, differs markedly in that it does not have plate tectonics. The boundaries of Earth’s moving surface plates are the primary locations of volcanic activity.
New research by University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute research professor Robert Herrick revealed a nearly 1-square-mile volcanic vent that changed in shape and grew over eight months in 1991. Changes on such a scale on Earth are associated with volcanic activity, whether through an eruption at the vent or movement of magma beneath the vent that causes the vent walls to collapse and the vent to expand.
The research was published March 15 in the journal Science.
Read more at University of Alaska Fairbanks
Image: Research professor Robert Herrick points to the location of his research on a Venus globe in his office at the University of Alaska Fairbanks West Ridge Research Building in Fairbanks, Alaska. (Credit: UAF/GI photo by JR Ancheta)