Volcanism May Have Turned Venus Into An Acidic Hot Spot

(CTN News) – An excessive amount of volcanism on Venus may have made it an acidic hothouse News9 Staff Published On: 22 Nov 2022 4:18 PM Computer generated 3D reconstruction of Maat Mons, a massive volcano on Venus.

NASA/JPL (Image credit: NASA/JPL) Venus once had a temperate, wet climate similar to Earth. Volcanic activity continued for thousands of years. Volcanism may have caused Venus’ toxic atmosphere.

Venus’ surface is covered by volcanic rock to the extent of 80 percent. It has been suggested by NASA scientists that excessive volcanism may have transformed Venus from a wet and temperate planet into an acidic hothouse. Volcanic activity continued for thousands of years, ejecting massive amounts of material.

As well as discussing large igneous provinces on the Earth, the paper discusses the mass extinctions associated with them. The occurrence of mass extinctions on Earth has been linked to periods of excessive throughout history.

Volcanism, which lasts for tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, forms these large igneous provinces. Volcanic rock would have been deposited as a result of Venus’ surface being covered with volcanic rock to an extent of 80 percent.

There is an average temperature of 462°C on Venus’ surface, and there is 90 times more surface pressure on Venus than on Earth. Apparently, ancient caused the extreme conditions seen on Venus now.

Wet and temperate atmosphere on the planet could have been converted to a hot and dry one by several large eruptions within a million years. By studying ancient volcanism on Earth, scientists can uncover Venus’ geological past.

The Earth has been subjected to three major mass extinction events since the origin of multicellular life about 540 million years ago.

Each of these events wissing out more than half of the species on Earth. Excessive volcanism may have caused and aggravated these extinctions, but they did not result in a runaway greenhouse gas effect.

Scientists are still trying to determine why the Earth’s atmosphere survived excessive volcanism periods. The Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission will be launched by NASA in late 2020.

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