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C. P. Orth†, V. S. Solomatov†, C. C. Reese†, and J. W. Head‡
†Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington
University in Saint Louis
‡Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI.
Advisor: V. S. Solomatov
Abstract
Various geodynamical models have been proposed to explain the mechanisms of resurfacing of Venus which occurred about 0.3-1.0 Gyr ago. To test the hypothesis that the resurfacing event simply represents the waning stages of magmatism we focus on the observable history of Venus. Here we consider a spherical model of the cooling history of Venus starting with the first appearance of dry patches and calculate the evolution of volcanism using different sets of assumptions regarding the intensity of convection, initial temperature, and initial lid thickness. The goal of this work is to determine the evolution of volcanic activity on Venus and compare the results to geologic observations. Comparison of the model results to calculations of the present day lid thickness, potential temperature, and total time for the cessation of volcanism places constraints on the history of Venus and the initial conditions at the beginning of patchy volcanism.
Christopher Orth is a second year Doctoral student in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. A native of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, Mr. Orth graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2006, with B.A. degrees in Physics and Mathematics. He is interested in planetary geodynamics. His current research, under the direction of Associate Professor Viatcheslav Solomatov, involves modeling the evolution of volcanism on Venus.
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