Recent Volcanic Activity on Venus

Volcanic activity on Venus has been suspected for a while,  which may dislodge Earth from its position as the only planet that is currently active.  There are moons showing volcanic activity and others that are suspect. While Venusian volcanism does not threaten old cosmos paradigms, this and other factors make secularists mighty uncomfortable.

Credits: NASA, JPL-Caltech, ESA, Venus Express: VIRTIS, USRA, LPI

The evidence is indirect. Scientists saw indications of prior activity, but it's hotter than the hubs of Hades. Space probes from the former Soviet Union landed there, but they didn't last long. It involves models based on images from more recent spacecraft. Some researchers are saying that the lava flows are several years old — not several million or billion Darwin years old.

A big problem for secularists is that this indicates plate tectonics on Venus. Creationists agree with their secular counterparts that plate tectonics exists, but they do not have an explanation for how it commenced; they get on the prod when reminded that creation science has an explanation for how it happened.

Secularists invoke catastrophism (the opposite of their cherished slow 'n' gradual uniformitarianism) when it suits them. When that "c" word was mentioned, it was considered controversial. No kidding? Real controversy would erupt (heh!) if someone admitted that the evidence indicates recent creation, not cosmic evolution.

If new indirect observations are correct, Venus is an active planet today with huge volcanoes.

The number of “active bodies” in our solar system is an exclusive club. Earth, of course, has volcanoes. So does Io, Jupiter’s innermost large moon. Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn, pours out icy eruptions from large cracks at its south pole. And Triton, Neptune’s large moon, was seen erupting geysers of dirty nitrogen at Voyager 2’s flyby in 1989. More evidence will be needed to establish whether Europa (at Jupiter), Titan (at Saturn), and a few other candidates, are currently active. 

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Since the Magellan spacecraft mapped the surface of Venus with radar, it was known that Venus possessed volcanic terrains. Some of its “coronae” (the name given to large, circular features) are much larger than the Earth’s volcanoes. What was not known is whether they are still erupting today. It’s been hard to tell due to the thick, cloudy atmosphere. Now, scientists think they have the smoking gun evidence.

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The scientists admit that this should not be happening on a planet without plate tectonics. The press release says,

To read all of this hot article, click on "Venus is Erupting". A related article is also worth considering, "Venus May Be Geologically Active".



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