Volcanoes may be responsible for transforming Venus’ ancient, wet and mild climate into that of the acidic planet we know today, according to a NASA article. The paper shows that large-scale volcanic activity usually lasts for tens or hundreds of thousands of years. Over time, they ejected about 100,000 cubic miles of igneous rock to the surface. For a quick reference, that amount of molten rock is enough to cover all of Texas half a mile deep.
“By understanding the record of major igneous disruptions on Earth and Venus, we can determine whether these events have caused the current state of Venus,” said Dr. Michael JY, NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies in a press release. Author of an article published earlier this year in the Planetary Science Journal.
Currently, Venus has an average surface temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit and has an atmosphere with a pressure 90 times that of Earth. The study also suggests that major volcanic eruptions and floods over a short period of geologic time (usually a million years) may have triggered a runaway greenhouse effect and caused Venus to go from moderate to hot and dry.
Today, huge patches of solid igneous rock cover more than 80 percent of the planet’s total surface area. On Earth, life on the planet is thought to have suffered at least five mass extinctions since the emergence of multicellular life 540 million years ago. Each mass extinction is said to have wiped out more than 50% of the planet’s animal life.
Some studies claim that most of these extinction events were caused by a type of volcanic eruption that produced large-scale frozen provinces. Scientists have yet to determine why events on Earth weren’t large enough to cause a runaway greenhouse effect like on Venus.
NASA is also preparing for a mission to Venus known as Venus Deep Atmosphere Exploration for Noble Gases, Chemistry and Imaging (DAVINCI) along with the Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Terrain and Spectroscopy (VERITAS) mission. The latter aims to study in detail the history of the planet, its origin and current state. The DAVINCI mission will launch ahead of VERITAS and will survey the planet’s surface and interior from above to understand its volcanic and volatile history and how it evolved into what we know today.
Scientists hope data from the two missions will help them understand how Venus went from a humid, temperate climate to a planet filled with volcanoes. It can also help us understand how volcanism has changed life on Earth in the past and what the impact will be in the future.
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