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Updated: Aug 18, 2025
11:34
Scattering And Absorption of Light in Planetary Regoliths
Published on: July 1, 2019
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Venus' light slab hinders its development of planetary-scale subduction
Junxing Chen1, Hehe Jiang2,3, Ming Tang4
1Department of Earth Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3B1, Canada. junxing.chen@mail.utoronto.ca.
Nature Communications
|December 10, 2022
Summary
Venus
Area of Science:
- Planetary Science
- Geophysics
- Geodynamics
Background:
- Venus and Earth share similar size, mass, and composition.
- Plume-induced subduction may have initiated on early Earth and Venus.
- This subduction may have led to plate tectonics on Earth but not Venus.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate why early subduction may have led to plate tectonics on Earth but not Venus.
- To simulate and analyze the buoyancy of submerged slabs on both planets.
Main Methods:
- A 2-D thermo-metamorphic model was used to simulate submerged slab buoyancy.
- Analyzed slab thermal state to calculate density changes due to thermal and phase transitions.
- Quantified the influence of eclogitization on slab buoyancy differences.
Main Results:
- Slab mantle lithosphere buoyancy is mainly controlled by temperature.
- Slab crust buoyancy is dominated by metamorphic phase changes.
- The eclogitization process on Venus results in a consistently less dense subducted slab compared to Earth.
Conclusions:
- Greater chemical buoyancy on Venus resists subduction, potentially hindering sustained plate tectonics.
- This difference in buoyancy may explain Venus's distinct tectonic regime.
- Further petrological data from Venus is needed to test this hypothesis and assess habitability impacts.
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