'Hot spots' have been mapped on the surface of Venus by a European Space Agency (ESA) probe. Venus Express (sister satellite to the Mars Express orbiter) has given us a tantalizing glimpse at features on the planet that rise above the surrounding landscape, exhibiting younger rock, possibly indicating recent volcanic activity. By "recent," we mean "less than 2.5 million years" -- still a very short period of time in geological timescales.
Like the volcanoes and resulting magma that built the Hawaiian archipelago (a series of islands that solidified from a cooling volcanic plume), the image above shows a volcano-like feature, surrounded by young rock that hasn't been degraded by the harsh Venusian atmosphere.
The hot, thick and acidic atmosphere quickly weathers the planet's landscape, making these "newer" regions appear to be emitting more heat than the older, weathered regions. Naturally, these hot spots would be the first places to look to find active volcanoes currently belching material from the planets interior, reveling more about the geology of this mysterious world.
Although we can gain some information about these regions of new rock from the Venus Express satellite, the atmosphere remains too thick to fully realize how old these lava flows are and whether they remain active to this day. To do this, a direct sample would need to be taken by future lander missions. However, it might be advisable for the space agency of any future active volcano-hunting probe not to aim the landing site directly over these hot spots, just in case they're too hot.
--Ian O'Neill, Discovery News
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Saturday, April 10, 2010
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