Venus is the second planet nearest to the Sun. Recently, scientists have taken much interest in Venus for its potential of supporting life. Although this planet is far from Earthlike today, scientists have discovered that its crust is cracked.
Scientists at North Carolina State University (NCSU) provided evidence that the planet had a more Earth-like atmosphere and ancient waters. But they also found that Venus might be geologically active as evident on its broken surface.
They found that broken large blocks of Venus are moveable like sea ice behaves. On Earth, sea ice is on the move all year depending on wind, weather, and ocean currents.
Moveable Blocks of Venus Crust
The study, titled "A globally fragmented and mobile lithosphere on Venus" published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), showed that Venus' crust experiences pack ice tectonics, which is equivalent but not exactly the same as the tectonic plates that happen on Earth.
On Earth, plate tectonics collide and move apart or slide past from each other. On the other hand, the moveable Venus' crust does not create subduction zones or mountain ranges.
Paul Byrne of NCSU wrote in The Conversation that the moving bands of ridges and troughs of Venus show little deformation. They are large blocks of Venus' crust that have shifted, rotated, and slid past each other over time. The behavior of these large blocks mostly resembles how sea ice behaves atop the ocean.
Researchers believe that the movement might be caused by the planet's mantle just like how activity in the Earth's mantle could trigger plate tectonics. They said that Venus' mantle swirls with currents as it is heated below, creating movements that are powerful enough to fragment the upper crust where scientists have found the large blocks.
This movement on Venus' crust is the closest thing to Earth's tectonic plates that are found anywhere near the Solar System. Byrne wrote that Veus' fragmented, mobile lithosphere might give an insight to scientists on how Earth tectonics moved during the Archean Eon about four billion years ago.
NASA's Magellan Spacecraft Saw the Moving Blocks of Venus
According to EarthSky, the moveable broken crust of Venus was discovered using the radar images from NASA's Magellan spacecraft, which was launched in 1989 and orbited Venus until 1994.
The type of tectonics observed on the planet seems to correlate to its interior, which suggests that Venus was once geologically active and is still until today. This shows a significant implication on the understanding of the planet's mantle.
Understanding the tectonic processes of Venus will give insight as to what was Venus like a few billion years ago and how it came to be as it is today. More so, it provides clues about the similar processes that other planets in the Solar System, and Earth.
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