Lava lakes may be how Venus stays youthful

摘要

Venus is leaking lava. Researchers have found oozing volcanoes on our closest planetary neighbour, a discovery that may help solve the planet's deepest geological riddle. Past observations revealed that Venus's surface is "new", at least in geological terms. Because it doesn't sport many craters, scientists think the planet has been paved over by upwelling lava within the last billion years. There have been hints of more recent volcanism, too, but no solid evidence of fresh lava. Until now. Eugene Shalygin of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Goettingen, Germany, and his colleagues have dug through data from the European Space Agency's Venus Express probe, which orbited from 2006 until 2014. They found short-lived hot patches they attribute to lava lakes bubbling up along a rift.