Corona structures driven by plume–lithosphere interactions and evidence for ongoing plume activity on Venus

Gülcher, Anna; Gerya, Taras; Montési, Laurent G. J.; Munch, Jessica

doi:10.1038/s41561-020-0606-1

Cited by 118 publications

(194 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…On the other end of the spectrum, the age of the youngest volcanic features reach only ∼40% of the mean age (Kreslavsky et al., 2015; Price & Suppe, 1994). This is consistent with the growing body of evidence for ongoing or at least very recent volcanism (e.g., Filiberto et al., 2020; Gülcher et al., 2020; Smrekar et al., 2010; Stofan et al., 2016). However, such extreme features may concern only relatively small portions of the surface; the tesserae only cover 10% of the surface after all.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Dynamics of Lithospheric Overturns and Implications for Venus's Surface

et al. 2020

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Across the solar system, planetary surfaces and specifically their volcano-tectonic structures offer windows into the dynamic evolution of planetary interiors. Volcanism and tectonism rejuvenate the planetary surface depending on the rate and style of magmatic and tectonic processes. While the present Earth's surface is, at the large scale, dominated by ocean-plate tectonics (Crameri et al., 2019), other bodies' surfaces are either dominated by extensive volcanism (e.g., Io) or show very little to no sign of recent activity. The latter is the case for the classical stagnant-lid bodies, Mars, Mercury, and the Moon, which feature a strong immobile lithosphere; the global-scale convection is or was (if convection ceased at some point) restricted to the Abstract Venus is currently characterized by stagnant-lid mantle convection, but could have previously experienced episodes of global resurfacing due to lithospheric overturn. Using numerical models of Venus's interior, we attempt to explain Venus's surface characteristics in the context of interior evolution and to understand how Venus's tectonic history has diverged from Earth's. For both the stagnant-and the episodic-lid regime, we explore the role of reference mantle viscosity; for the latter regime, we also explore the role of the lithospheric yield stress. Our stagnant-lid models predict thicker crust and younger surface than typically inferred from cratering statistics. When considering resurfacing episodes, the yield stress influences the frequency of overturns, which limits crustal thickness to better agree with previous independent estimates. Surface age is variable and depends on overturn frequency and resurfacing rate between overturns but reaches larger values just before an upcoming overturn event compared to values in the stagnant-lid cases. Both regimes predict substantial lateral variations in surface age, instead of an end-member uniform surface age indicating the cessation time of the last overturn, because ongoing volcanic resurfacing is spatially heterogeneous and dominates over tectonic resurfacing. Reviewing the crater-based surface age variations suggests that the model-predicted age spreads in the episodic scenario could be consistent with Venus's cratering record. Moreover, we find that a small fraction of crust can resist recycling during overturns. These outcomes indicate that overturn events may allow for surface age variations that reproduce Venus's surface better than stagnant-lid models. Plain Language Summary In contrast to Earth, Venus currently does not feature plate tectonics inhibiting effective crustal recycling into the planetary interior. Yet, its surface features only few and almost randomly distributed craters, which suggests a globally young and more homogeneous surface age than on other planetary surfaces. To date, it remains unclear whether these surface characteristics are generated in an equilibrium style of resurfacing due to volcanism or whether largescale tectonic overturns are required to explain the observations. Her...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Dynamics of Lithospheric Overturns and Implications for Venus's Surface

et al. 2020

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“…Such scarcity in documented examples of plume‐induced subduction within intra‐oceanic settings is in line with the modeling studies simulating this process (Baes et al., 2016; Gerya et al., 2015; Ueda et al., 2008), where subduction initiation requires far‐going assumptions on the high required buoyancy of the plume, and an overlying lithosphere that needs to be strongly weakened. Both conditions are rarely met in Phanerozoic Earth's history, making this scenario more applicable to the Precambrian Earth and to other Earth‐like planets (e.g., Venus, see Ueda et al., 2008; Gerya et al., 2015; Gülcher et al., 2020). In contrast, observations within intra‐continental settings provide numerous examples of anomalous mantle structures that can be interpreted as downgoing proto‐slabs triggered by a mantle plume upwelling: that is, the Caucasus (Ismail‐Zadeh et al., 2020; Koulakov et al., 2012); Central Asia (He & Santosh, 2018); North‐East China (Kuritani et al., 2019; Li et al., 2020); Iberia (Civiero et al., 2019); the Carpathians (Ismail‐Zadeh et al., 2012; Wortel & Spakman, 2000); and the Colorado Plateau (Levander et al., 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, subduction initiation by a mantle plume is likely to be a common process operating not only on Earth but also on other Earth‐like planets. In particular, recent numerical studies (Gülcher et al., 2020) have demonstrated the importance of plume‐induced subduction in the formation of Venus' coronae, long‐known circular volcano‐tectonic features, often associated with elevated topography and active volcanism (Gerya, 2014; Roberts & Head, 1993; Stofan et al., 1991). These results pave the path for more detailed studies on the possible occurrence of similar, corona‐like structures on Earth, in particular within the intraplate areas subjected to mantle upwelling.…”

Section: Joint Occurrence Of Upper Mantle Upwelling and Simultaneous mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This apparent contradiction between numerical model predictions and observations can likely be traced to the adoption of not well known values for model parameters controlling magmatism‐induced lithospheric weakening (e.g., brittle/plastic strength reduced by a factor of ∼10 −2 –10 −4 ; Gerya et al., 2015) and/or mantle plume buoyancy (e.g., buoyancy flux of ∼0.15 kg × m −1 × s −1 ; Lu et al., 2015). Both of these assumptions are likely not typical for present‐day Earth conditions, making this scenario of plume‐induced intra‐oceanic subduction more feasible in a Venus‐like environment (Gülcher et al., 2020) and/or in the hotter and more vigorously convecting early Earth, producing hotter upper mantle thermal instabilities with a higher degree of partial melting (Gerya et al., 2015; Ueda et al., 2008). It is also noteworthy that plume‐induced subduction initiation is usually reproduced in the context of tectonically neutral or compressional regimes.…”

Section: Plume‐induced Initiation Of Subduction and Subduction‐like Smentioning

confidence: 99%

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Plume‐Induced Sinking of Intracontinental Lithospheric Mantle: An Overlooked Mechanism of Subduction Initiation?

Cloetingh

Koptev

Kovàcs

et al. 2021

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Although many different mechanisms for subduction initiation have been proposed, only few of them are viable in terms of consistency with observations and reproducibility in numerical experiments. In particular, it has recently been demonstrated that intra‐oceanic subduction triggered by an upwelling mantle plume could greatly contribute to the onset and operation of plate tectonics in the early and, to a lesser degree, modern Earth. On the contrary, the initiation of intra‐continental subduction still remains underappreciated. Here we provide an overview of 1) observational evidence for upwelling of hot mantle material flanked by downgoing proto‐slabs of sinking continental mantle lithosphere, and 2) previously published and new numerical models of plume‐induced subduction initiation. Numerical modeling shows that under the condition of a sufficiently thick (>100 km) continental plate, incipient downthrusting at the level of the lowermost lithospheric mantle can be triggered by plume anomalies of moderate temperatures and without significant strain‐ and/or melt‐related weakening of overlying rocks. This finding is in contrast with the requirements for plume‐induced subduction initiation within oceanic or thinner continental lithosphere. As a result, plume‐lithosphere interactions within continental interiors of Paleozoic‐Proterozoic‐(Archean) platforms are the least demanding (and thus potentially very common) mechanism for initiation of subduction‐like foundering in the Phanerozoic Earth. Our findings are supported by a growing body of new geophysical data collected in various intra‐continental areas. A better understanding of the role of intra‐continental mantle downthrusting and foundering in global plate tectonics and, particularly, in the initiation of “classic” ocean‐continent subduction will benefit from more detailed follow‐up investigations.

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“…What is the interior structure and composition of Venus (Gillmann & Tackley, 2014; Gülcher et al., 2020; O'Rourke, 2020)?…”

Section: The Terrestrial Planetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Fundamental Connections between the Solar System and Exoplanetary Science

et al. 2021

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Underpinning planetary science is a deep history of observation, and more recently, planetary exploration within the Solar System, from which models of planetary processes have been constructed (e.g., de Pater & Lissauer, 2015; Horner, Kane, et al., 2020, and references therein). Indeed, planetary science as a discipline has greatly benefited from the robotic exploration of the Solar System over the past 60 years. From the early 1960s onwards, we began to explore beyond the Earth-Moon system, with flybys of Venus and Mars (e.g.,

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Corona structures driven by plume–lithosphere interactions and evidence for ongoing plume activity on Venus

Cited by 118 publications

References 67 publications

Dynamics of Lithospheric Overturns and Implications for Venus's Surface

Dynamics of Lithospheric Overturns and Implications for Venus's Surface

Plume‐Induced Sinking of Intracontinental Lithospheric Mantle: An Overlooked Mechanism of Subduction Initiation?

The Fundamental Connections between the Solar System and Exoplanetary Science

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