Scientists talked about the signs of tectonic activity of Venus

Wide and high uplifts along the edges of rift valleys on Venus may indicate that some of the faults remain active or have stopped moving relatively recently. This is stated in a study published on July 24 in Nature Geoscience.

There are extensive rift valley systems on the surface of Venus, some of which reach 10,000 km. Such structures are formed by stretching and diverging sections of the crust and are considered one of the signs of tectonic processes.

Until now, the age of the Venusian rifts has remained unknown. It was assumed that many of them were formed more than 100 million years ago and represent traces of long-completed processes. However, new modeling has shown that at least some of the faults may be much younger.

A group led by Taras Gehry, Professor of Geodynamics at the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at ETH Zurich, has created for the first time a three-dimensional model of the formation of Venusian rifts with high resolution. The first author of the study was Xi Yang, who conducted the work while studying for a master's degree.

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Modeling has shown that wide uplands are formed along the young rifts — rift flanks. They persist as long as the areas of the crust continue to diverge, as well as for some time after the movement stops. According to scientists, the rate of expansion of such faults can reach from 3 to 10 cm per year.

After the tectonic movement stops, uplifts become flatter relatively quickly. Unlike on Earth, where the relief is gradually destroyed by water, wind and other factors, on Venus this process is mainly associated with relaxation and subsidence of the crust.

The high and wide rift flanks reproduced in the model were also found by scientists in radar images of the surface of Venus obtained by the Magellan spacecraft in the 1990s. The similarity of the calculated and observed structures suggested that some rifts were formed recently by geological standards and may remain active.

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At the same time, we are not talking about the Earth's plate tectonics. Venus has not been found to have a system of constantly moving lithospheric plates similar to Earth's. However, its crust can deform under the influence of processes in the mantle and heat coming from the interior.

The results complement other evidence of the planet's current activity. Earlier, a re-analysis of the Magellan images revealed changes in volcanic vents and lava flows, which scientists interpreted as signs of eruptions on Venus.

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