Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Jim Doyle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)
RELEASE: 94-105
"The matter rises and is pushed upward because it is hot and thus
less dense," she said. "As it nears the surface, it produces
volcanism." The mechanisms are similar to those which occur on
Earth and which produce volcanoes like those on Hawaii.
Earlier data from the spacecraft's imaging radar showed that much
of the surface of Venus had been covered in the past by lava
flows.
Smrekar said two regions on Venus -- Atla Regio and Bell Regio --
exhibited clear signatures of both bottom and top loading of the
elastic surface.
The signatures from the data are indicative of an active hot spot
at Atla Regio, Smrekar said. Although the loading response is
less clear, the data from Western Eistla and Beta Regio also
support the interpretation that those areas are underlain by
large, hot areas, probably due to active plumes in the mantle
beneath the planet's crust.
Smrekar said future studies of those areas and other possible hot
spots on Venus would continue to improve scientists' understanding
of the evolution of hot spots on both Venus and Earth.
Her work at JPL was done under contract to NASA's Office of Space
Science, Washington, D.C.
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