281 Petrology, Volcanology, and Mantle Plumes across the Solar System, Part II

This session focuses on recent advances in characterizing and quantifying volcanic processes throughout the Solar System in light of recent and upcoming missions to volcanically active worlds and resurgence in volcano science.

Wednesday, 22 October 2025
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
HBGCC, 214C

Assessing the Evidence for Active Volcanism on Venus: Current Limitations and Prospects for Future Investigations

Paper number: 281-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:35 PM – 1:55 PM

Authors

Abstract

One of the biggest unknowns about Venus is how volcanically active it is today. There have been recent tantalizing hints of current or very recent volcanism, but exploration of Venus has not had the sustained presence or focus needed to confirm the level of activity. Part of the issue is that unlike the Earth, Venus has a thick, omnipresent optically opaque cloud deck, which hampers observations of the surface. Further, surface pressure and temperature conditions, as well as exposure to a corrosive atmosphere, make even short-lived landed missions challenging. Venus is about to get a renewed exploration focus with multiple mission architectures launching over the next decade. Therefore, here we review what is know about active volcanism on Venus and highlight techniques and approaches that need to be developed before these missions arrive.

Our integration of research from different missions, laboratory experiments, and terrestrial analogs strongly suggests that Venus is volcanically active today. The best evidence for active volcanoes is at Idunn Mons, Maat Mons, and Aramaiti Corona where we have multiple overlapping datasets to compare. However, the rate of active volcanism is not constrained without more detailed and globally integrated data sets. Future missions must collect high-resolution imaging, repeat observations, radar polarimetry, evidence of outgassing, and high-resolution topographical data. Integration across different missions will be key to constrain the location of active volcanism, as well as the current volcanism rate.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 57, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-412355

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