Mass Volcanic Eruptions Could¡¯ve Shifted Ancient Venus¡¯s Climate To The Current Hellscape
In the 1990s, NASA¡¯s Magellan spacecraft mapped the Venetian surface via radar, which is otherwise covered by the planet¡¯s dense atmosphere, only to discover that much of the surface was covered in volcanic basalt rock.
Massive volcanism that covered around 80 percent of Venus¡¯s surface with lava could be responsible for transforming the planet from a wet, mild world to a sulfuric hell wasteland of a planet that we see today, reveals a NASA report.
NASA
In the 1990s, NASA¡¯s Magellan spacecraft mapped the Venetian surface via radar, which is otherwise covered by the planet¡¯s dense atmosphere, only to discover that much of the surface was covered in volcanic basalt rock.
According to researchers, such a large presence of volcanic rock could only occur with tens of thousands, if not hundreds of years worth of massive volcanism that occurred at some point in the past billions years.
Most of these events coming in the space of a million years, each covering hundreds of thousands of square kilometers in lava, could have released a ton of CO2 in the atmosphere, making it impossible for the climate to cope.
This also would have resulted in the oceans getting boiled away, with the moisture fusing with the atmosphere and contributing to the greenhouse effect. Over time this moisture would be lost to space, leaving behind CO2 and the inhospitable world.
¡°By understanding the record of large igneous provinces on Earth and Venus, we can determine if these events may have caused Venus¡¯ present condition," says Michael Way, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.
"While we're not yet sure how often the events which created these fields occurred, we should be able to narrow it down by studying Earth's own history¡±, he added.
NASA
NASA¡¯s next missions to Venus are scheduled for launch in the late 2020s. Dubbed the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission and the Venus Emissivity, Radio science, InSAR, Topography, And Spectroscopy (VERITAS) mission ¨C they both aim to study the origin, past and present state of Venus in never-before-seen detail.
¡°A primary goal of DAVINCI is to narrow down the history of water on Venus and when it may have disappeared, providing more insight into how Venus¡¯ climate has changed over time,¡± concluded Way.
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