The crowns, spiders and stars of Venus : characterization and assessment of the geological settings of volcano-tectonic structures on Venus

Abstract

<div lang="en" class="abs"><p class="abs_header">Abstract</p><p>Venus surface has been studied extensively using SAR (synthetic aperture radar) -imagery provided by the NASA Magellan mission in 1990–1994. The radar images with ~98% coverage and resolution of ~100 m may be used in order to understand the global suite of surface structures, and to analyze single features and their formation processes using photogeological approaches and methods.</p><p>This study recognizes and catalogues four Venusian surface structure types, the <em>coronae, arachnoids, novae and corona-novae</em>. The study goals are:</p><p>a) To provide a thorough survey of the four Venusian volcano-tectonic feature groups (characteristics, distribution, measurements of size and location), and to defend the recognization of the feature groups, </p><p>a. 596 coronae, 139 arachnoids, 74 novae and 35 corona-novae</p><p>b) To present a characterization method that is based on the generalized governing geological units: I — deformation zones, II — plains, III — tessera, and IV — regions with volcanic concentration, </p><p>c) To present results on the observations of formational processes:</p><p>a. Arachnoids display implications for at least three different formational origin</p><p>b. Model of corona-novae formation provides theoretical explanations to meet the observations of the individual features </p><p>c. Observations of young arcuate tectonic features on the flanks of some of the volcano-tectonic features located in the rift zone -region</p><p>All gathered information supply to the goal of understanding Venus. As a single plate planet without plate tectonics, an alternate heat flow mechanism is in effect. The volcano-tectonic features may be part of the solution.</p></div>