Scientists Might Have Spotted Tectonic Activity Inside Venus (technologyreview.com) 11
Venus might be hell, but don't call it a dead planet. Amid surface temperatures of up to 471C and surface pressures 100 times greater than those on Earth, new research suggests the planet might still be geologically active. That's encouraging news to people who think it could once have hosted life (or that it might still be able to). From a report: Earth's lithosphere (its crust and upper mantle) is made of "plates" that move around and crash into each other, resulting in mountains, deep ocean trenches, and volcanic and seismic activity. This tectonic activity also plays an important role in the carbon cycle, the processes in which carbon is released and reabsorbed in the ecosystem; by regulating the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it has helped keep the planet cool and comfortable this whole time. Thus far, scientists have never observed anything similar on Venus. But we've never been able to rule it out, because it's hard to make scientific observations of the planet (its thick clouds obscure its surface, and any spacecraft we'd land there would most likely melt in a matter of hours). In the new findings, published in PNAS, scientists think they've finally spotted evidence of a new type of tectonic activity on Venus.
The team used observations made by the Magellan probe, which orbited Venus from 1990 to 1994 and mapped the surface using radar. The features it spotted have been analyzed before, but the new study uses a new computer model that can recognize surface deformations indicating large block structures in the lithosphere. These blocks, each about the size of Alaska, seem to have been sluggishly jostling against each other like broken pack ice on a pond or lake. This is quite different from the current type of plate tectonics on Earth. But if confirmed, it would nonetheless be evidence of heat currents and molten material in Venus's interior -- something that's never before been observed. The authors think parallels with Earth's geology during the Archean Eon (2.5 to 4 billion years ago) suggest that the "pack ice" patterns could be a transition from an earlier period of plate tectonics on Venus when the planet was more Earth-like.
The team used observations made by the Magellan probe, which orbited Venus from 1990 to 1994 and mapped the surface using radar. The features it spotted have been analyzed before, but the new study uses a new computer model that can recognize surface deformations indicating large block structures in the lithosphere. These blocks, each about the size of Alaska, seem to have been sluggishly jostling against each other like broken pack ice on a pond or lake. This is quite different from the current type of plate tectonics on Earth. But if confirmed, it would nonetheless be evidence of heat currents and molten material in Venus's interior -- something that's never before been observed. The authors think parallels with Earth's geology during the Archean Eon (2.5 to 4 billion years ago) suggest that the "pack ice" patterns could be a transition from an earlier period of plate tectonics on Venus when the planet was more Earth-like.
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More likely to be life on Venus than Mars (Score:2)
I think it's more likely there could be living life on Venus today than that there is on Mars. Just Venus is so inhospitable to explore that Mars ends up being a much more accessible target for the limited funds that can be spent.
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around venus in high atmosphere, it's possible. on Venus, no.
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I doubt it, from 25km to 50km is sulfric acid clouds, and sulfuric acid exists all the way up to 75km. The 'habitable zone' (0C to 100C) is also from about 25km to 50km, so any life would have to be very very resilient
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:More likely to be life on Venus than Mars (Score:5, Informative)
Life lives on an energy and resource gradients, taking in energy and resources of high concentration and converting them to resources of low concentration, and sustaining themselves off the energy extracted in that process.
Venus has got far more scope for energy and resource gradients to exist than Mars does. The chemicals involved aren't all that huge of a concern, given how adaptable life on earth is to harsh environments.
Re: More likely to be life on Venus than Mars (Score:2)
Mars resembles the American southwestern desert, enough so that you can Photoshop in a picture of a cowboy riding a horse and most people would not even be able to tell the difference.
"Venus will melt landed spacecraft in a matter of hours"- is it possible to send a craft that lands disposable 'pods' which transmit data to the mothership, which in turns sends data back to Earth?
What about... (Score:1)
So... (Score:2)
So the air is unbreathable and would kill you. The pressure will kill you. The concentrated acid rain will kill you. There's no food or water. The day/night lengths are unbearable - and that, combined with the cloud cover, makes solar power useless... ...and you're worried about a few immensely active volcanoes?