Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

A migratory mantle plume on Venus: Implications for Earth?

January 1, 1996

A spatially fixed or at least internally rigid hotspot reference frame has been assumed for determining relative plate motions on Earth. Recent 1:5,000,000 scale mapping of Venus, a planet without terrestrial-style plate tectonics and ocean cover, reveals a systematic age and dimensional progression of corona-like arachnoids occurring in an uncinate chain. The nonrandom associations between arachnoids indicate they likely formed from a deep-seated mantle plume in a manner similar to terrestrial hotspot features. However, absence of expected convergent "plate" margin deformation suggests that the arachnoids are the surface expression of a migratory mantle plume beneath a stationary surface. If mantle plumes are not stationary on Venus, what if any are the implications for Earth?

Publication Year 1996
Title A migratory mantle plume on Venus: Implications for Earth?
DOI 10.1029/96JB00883
Authors Mary G. Chapman, Randolph L. Kirk
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth
Index ID 70019067
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Astrogeology Science Center