Venus Lives!

Abstract

Observations of electrical noise and sulfur dioxide variations by the Pioneer Venus spacecraft have been interpreted as evidence for ongoing volcanic activity (Scarf and Russell, 1983; Esposito, 1984). Recently this interpretation has been challenged, with the general conclusion that there is no evidence for active volcanism on the planet (Taylor and Cloutier, 1986). This debate does not impinge on the abundant comparative planetological reasons for believing that Venus should be active (ie., it is compositionally similar to and has nearly the same mass as the Earth), and direct observations of volcanic landforms on Venera 15 and 16 and Arecibo radar images. The 0.5-1.0 b.y. age of these volcanic materials, as originally determined by Ivanov et al. (1986), is likely to be an overestimate for a variety of reasons. Comparison with the duration of major volcanic systems on Earth (75-80 my. for the Hawaiian-Emperor chain) and Mars (perhaps 1 b.y. for Olympus Mons) suggests that volcanism is likely to continue on Venus today if it existed 0.5-1.0 b.y. ago.