The glass-ceiling convective regime and the origin and diversity of coronae on Venus

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kerr, Madeleine C.; Stegman, Dave R.; Smrekar, Suzanne E.; Adams, Andrea C.
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California San Diego; Scripps Institution of Oceanography; National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA); NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); California Institute of Technology
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-13759
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2504491122
• 发表日期: 2025-09-23
• 关键词: mantle convection; thermal-convection; topographic rises; phase-transitions; MODEL; constraints; DYNAMICS; thermodynamics; deformation; generation

摘要

Venus and Earth are rocky planets of roughly the same size and bulk density, yet their surface volcanic and tectonic features appear substantially different. On Venus, the coexistence of large volcanic highlands-interpreted as the surface expression of long-lived mantle plumes-alongside coronae, smaller features thought to be caused by transient thermal diapirs, remains enigmatic. Using two-dimensional numerical models of mantle convection with sharp and broad mineral phase transitions for pyrolite, we show that both scales of upwellings can be generated in a stagnant lid planet with an interior temperature 250 to 400 K warmer than Earth's. The smaller plumes originate from a similar to 600 km deep internal layer that exists as a consequence of the different sequence of mineral phase transitions that occur in warmer mantles less processed and differentiated by partial melting and volcanism. Future models that include melting will provide further tests of our hypothesis.