Are there any good things about volcanoes. They can be unpredictable, violent, and dangerous. Volcanoes are a nuisance for modern people, but can also be a fascinating visual display and sometimes deadly.
They can also be deadly if there are enough of them and they last for a long time.
Modern-day VenusThis is a hellscape that can be sweltering. The temperature rises above 464 °C (850 °F, 737 °K), which is, as Universe Today readers know, hot enough to melt lead (and spacecraft).
It is the reason why, of all the Russian missions sent to the surface of the planet, only four were able transmit photos before succumbing quickly to Venus’ extreme circumstances.
Modern-day Venus may be quite different from ancient Venus. Some studies show that ancient Venus experienced an atmosphere similar in quality to the one found on ancient Earth.
There may have been substantial amounts of water on the surface of Venus. Although it is possible that Venus once had simple life, there are not enough evidence to disprove or prove that.
New research suggests that large volcanic eruptions over a long period of time could be responsible for changing the planet’s shape to today. If life existed on Venus before volcanism, it was doomed.
The study also shows how volcanic activity played a significant role in Earth’s ability to sustain itself and how Earth narrowly avoided the same fate that Venus.
The title of the study is “Large-scale Volcanism in large numbers and the Heat Death for Terrestrial Worlds“, and it was published in The Planetary Journal. Dr. Michael J. Dr. Michael J. Way of NASA’s Goddard Institute was the lead author. Way has been researching Venus since many years. She is the author or coauthor of several papers about Venus, particularly its ancient habitability.
Way announced the findings in a press release.
Earth has witnessed long periods of continuous volcanic eruptions over its history. Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) are the evidence for the periods, which can last hundreds of thousands of years – maybe even millions of years.
LIPs can deposit more that 100,000 cubic miles of rock at the surface. This is enough to submerge Texas half a mile deep. We know of many LIPs on Earth. And we know that they have coincided with periods of averaging 500 million years. Climate changeAnd with mass extinctions.
According to the study, Venus experienced massive volcanic eruptions that gave rise to its modern atmosphere. This created extreme temperatures and pressures. In particular, the study claims that Venus was created by intense outbursts over a time span of as little as one million years. Runaway greenhouse effect.
The runaway greenhouse effect occurs when the atmosphere blocks heat from reaching space. Without cooling, the temperature rises rapidly to dangerous levels. This is similar to a greenhouse without all its vents.
Venus’ greenhouse effect is made worse by the apparent absence of plate tectonics. Plate tectonics on Earth allows heat from the planet’s interior to reach its surface by periodically opening and closing the mantle blanket.
It also converts carbon dioxide into rock by weathering or subduction.
Five mass extinctions occurred on our planet, all associated with higher volcanic activity, according this research. Researchers believe that a sixth mass extermination is possible, since human activity has increased the loss of species.
The Chicxulub-Triassic impact event was the main driver of the Permian Triassic extinction that decimated the dinosaursHowever, volcanic activity played an important role. Chicxulub dinosaurAlthough extinction is well-known and widely publicized, volcanic activity has been the primary driver of Earth’s extinctions.
Strong and prolonged volcanic activity had devastating effects on Earth’s life. It recovered and the volcanoes did not cause a runaway greenhouse effect. Venus, however, still suffers from this effect. What is the difference?
The magnitude of volcanic eruptions was a factor. The surface of Venus is covered in solidified volcanic rock 80 percent. Evidence of volcanic activity is also evident in the high levels of sulfur in the atmosphere. Venus’ surface shows fewer craters that expected, which is a sign of abundant volcanic activity over the last few hundred millions years.
The study should not be taken as a warning. Although Earth may have avoided the runaway greenhouse effect by a narrow margin, it could still be a problem.
Because craters are often erased, it is difficult to understand the history and impacts of volcanism, impacts, extinctions, and Earth’s history. While there are many scientific efforts to identify the conditions in Earth’s mantle that can lead to LIPs it is a challenging task.
LIPs are often created by magmatic eruptions that last less than five million years. They may also occur in a series over several tens or millions of years. Although they are pushing a lot of rocks onto the surface, it is the chemicals that they emit into the air that drives extinctions.
Massive amounts CO2The Earth’s atmosphere was heated dramatically and sulphur dioxide, (SO) was released.2) compounded the warming. Toxic substances like hydrogen sulfuride (H2) were added to the warming.2Eruptions can also produce S) as well as carbon monoxide (CO), but in very small quantities.
Because the planets are “sisters planets”, Earth’s volcanic activity is very similar to Venus’s. They are very similar in size and both rocky planets within the inner Solar System.
However, their bulk composition is what they have in common when it comes to volcanism. They have very similar compositions because they were formed in the same area of the Solar System.
The authors used random simulations to recreate Earth’s volcanic history using information about Earth’s volcanic activity, LIPs and other relevant data. The authors state that they have made a conservative estimate of how fast sets of near-simultaneous LIPs occur (pairs of triplets and quartets) in one approach.
“We find that LIPs closer in time than 0.1–1 million yr are likely; significantly, this is less than the time over which terrestrial LIP environmental effects are known to persist.”
LIP events are often overlapping, so CO removal is possible before the planet has the chance to eliminate it.2From one event, another is busy releasing additional greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. You get the runaway greenhouse effect if you have enough. The effect is exacerbated by LIPs that are located in different areas of the world, even below the oceans.
Variability is a key component of their research. Do LIPs have causal relationships? This is because LIP rates can vary, increasing the possibility of simultaneous or overlapping events. This could cause a runaway greenhouse.
“How could variability in LIP rates over time impact the likelihood of simultaneous events?” They write.
“During periods of higher rate, simultaneous events are more likely than those for the average rate. This is contrary to the case when the average rate drops. It isn’t clear which one of these effects dominates.
One interesting aspect of all this is Earth’s longest-lasting LIPs. It is more likely that one will overlap with another the longer it remains.
“[W]We found that 30 percent of LIPs in Earth history overlapped with events of similar area. The paper suggests that multiple simultaneous LIPs might be crucial drivers of the transition to a calm, habitable surface into a hothouse for terrestrial worlds. This assumes they have Earth-like geochemistry or mantle dynamics.
All of this can come to an end. Although we have reliable data that is fairly complete on Earth’s LIPs we don’t have any comparable data for Venus. However, the research indicates that Venus likely suffered multiple LIPs, which led to its end.
Fortunately, future missions to Venus will allow for better data.
NASA is currently developing the Venus VERITAS orbiter. Although the launch date has not yet been set, it will be a three year mission to image Venus’ surface using radar and near infrared spectroscopy.
It will provide details about the planet’s history of impact, volcanism and geochemistry.
DAVINCI (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry and Imaging) mission is also NASA. However, it will have an orbiter as well as an atmospheric probe. Once they have more information about Venus’ atmosphere, and its surface, scientists can begin unravelling the planet’s history.
Way stated that DAVINCI’s primary goal is to “reduce the history of water on Venus and when they may have disappeared, giving more insight into Venus’ climate over time.”
DAVINCI as well as VERITAS will both launch in the second half of 2020, with DAVINCI launching first.
ESA has also planned an orbiter mission for Venus. It is called EnVision, and it should launch in early 2030s. EnVision will study Venus’ atmosphere as well, but it’ll go deeper by using its instrument package, which will allow it to explore the planet’s internal structures.
These results will also help us understand exoplanets. Exoplanets have been a growing area of research. The James Webb Space Telescope has begun to provide better data about exoplanet atmospheres.
Scientists will have a difficult time understanding the JWST’s findings if they don’t have better models. A deeper understanding of our sister planets’ history will help us refine our models for planetary atmospheres.
Venus has been much more fortunate than Earth, which has remained habitable for billions upon billions of years. It’s unlikely that Venus ever had simple, ancient life.
(Apologies to those who think that life might be boring. Venus’ clouds allow you to live on.)
We may not be able to understand every factor that made Venus and Earth so different, but volcanic activity was clearly a key component. We can begin to understand Venus’ divergent paths better once EnVision, DAVINCI and VERITAS have done their work.
This article was first published by Universe Today. Learn more Original article.
