Venus shows signs of cracks in its surface, leading researchers to believe that it is an active planet. Scientists are using radar data to explore its physique.
Most of Venus' brittle upper crust is broken into small fragments that move and jostle. Researchers believe that the slow churning of the planet's mantle under its surface might be the reason for its cracks.
Venus Has Cracked Surfaces
According to The Next Web, a group of researchers suggests that the Venus planet might be active. They used radar data to continuously explore the planet's surface and interact with its interior.
Planetary scientists have long understood that Venus is home to a plethora of various tectonic landforms. Some of the formations are long, thin surfaces with crusts that have been pushed together, forming a ridge or pulled apart, forming grooves and troughs.
Most of the belt present in Venus has multiple pieces of evidence that fragments of the crust have experienced some side-to-side movement.
For the first time, the researchers discovered that the bands of troughs and ridges usually mark the regions of flat, low-lying sections that themselves exude little evidence of deformation.
These are separate blocks of Venus' crust that have rotated, shifted, and slid against one another as time passed by - and it may have occurred not so long ago.
A source says that Venus' surface appears a little like Earth's active plate tectonics. However, it seems that it is on a much smaller scale, and it closely resembles ice packs floating on the ocean.
Is Venus An Active Planet?
Based on the researchers' findings, they believe that similar to the Earth's mantle, Venus' mantle also swirls with electric currents as it receives excessive heat from below.
The researchers modeled the robust movement of Venus' mantle, and it depicts that it is sustainably forceful to fragment Venus' upper crust everywhere that they discovered the lowland blocks.
Why Does It Matter?
People's typical question about Venus is whether it is also home to active volcanoes and various tectonic faulting. Although we do not know, there is still a lot that we know is that it has the same composition, size, and age as Earth.
So why would Venus not be geologically active?
However, there isn't any Venus mission that can conclusively show that the planet is active.
Despite the compelling evidence that various researchers have, the result is still inconclusive.
By knowing that the geological engine of Venus is still up and running would heavily impact humankind's understanding of the planet - its mantel, where and how volcanoes work, and how the planet's crush is created, destroyed, and replaced.
What's Next For Venus?
The researchers found a total of 58 crustal fragments so far, and it is still unclear how widespread these are throughout Venus.
Sadly, we still need to dive deeper into Venus' details.
For example, we still don't know when the crustal blocks initially formed and how long they have been moving all over Venus.
For further details about the discovery, you may check out copies of the National Academy of Science, published on June 21, 2021.
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Written by Fran Sanders
