Venus has been lava -tubes and they are weird

We now know for sure that massive underground tunnels, carved by lava, are found on Venus – and they are surprisingly wide and different from them on any other planet.

It is a Ancontroversial that lava tubes – underground tunnels cut out of melted rock – are found on the ground, the moon and Mars. Smaller planets with low gravity tend to form more cavernous pipes, partly because the rock walls are less likely to collapse with weaker gravity. On the moon, for example, the pipes are so large that scientists have suggested using them as live-in shelters for astronauts that supply shielding from the hard solar window.

Scientists had seen hints at these lava tubes on Venus, from holes and Rogums that appear to have formed on its surface, but it was unclear when was caused by lava tubes under them or by other geological processes, such as from an active error line.

Now Barbara de Toffoli at the University of Padova in Italy and her colleagues has found direct proof of lava tubes on Venus. They also appear to be surprised wide and by a comparable volume with those on the moon, despite the fact that Venus is more like Earth with regard to its mass and gravity.

“The Earth’s lava pipes have smaller volumes, Mars tubes have slightly larger quantities, and then the moon’s pipes have even larger quantities -and then there is Venus that is fully disturbing this trend showing very, very large amounts of pipe,” they told Toffoli to the Europplanet Science Congress in Helsinki, Finland, earlier this month. “This already gives the fact that there is probably something more on Venus that plays a significant role.”

Using radar and mapping data from previous missions, the Toffoli and her team analysis, how these Roops got up and were arranged near large volcanoes. They found four clear examples that had no alternative geological explanation, such as tectonic activity. The pits also stood up with the steepest part of the volcanoes’ slopes, which is the direction that the lava would have raised, and the relationship between their depth and passed with other well -known lava.

The effortless size of the tube, especially their width, suggests that extremes Venusian environment, which is very hot and high press, can affect how melted rock moves below its surface, they said toffoli and not just dependent on gravity as lava tubes on other planets. “Due to the very high press, there is a total flattening out of the pipes instead of having a very intense erosion on the floor that occurs on other planets.”

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