Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds Archives

Analog Studies, Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

ESA Away Team Training: Mars In Hawaii

by Keith CowingJuly 13, 2024July 7, 2024

[14 May 2014] Testing equipment, procedures and even human resilience for future missions to faraway planets requires inventiveness. Volunteer astronauts can spend time in hyperbaric chambers, rollercoaster aircraft, an isolated […]

Jupiter moon Io, imaged by SHARK-VIS on Jan. 10, 2024. This is the highest resolution image of Io ever obtained by an Earth-based telescope. The image combines three spectral bands — infrared, red and yellow — to highlight the reddish ring around the volcano Pele (below and to the right of the moon's center) and the white ring around Pillan Patera, to the right of Pele.

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Io, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release

New Telescope Images Of Volcano World Io

by Keith CowingJune 7, 2024June 7, 2024

New images of Jupiter’s volcano-studded moon Io, taken by the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona, offer the highest resolution of Io ever achieved with an Earth-based instrument. […]

Neutral Temperature for all cases. Panel (a) represents present Venus VTGCM base case for solar minimum conditions (validated against Venus Express observations); panel (b) VTGCM GJ 436 Venus at d = 0.72 AU (present Venus orbital distance); panel (c) VTGCM GJ 436 Venus at d = 0.387 AU (present Mercury orbital distance); panel (d) VTGCM GJ 436 Venus at d = 0.175 AU. All panels are at 2.5°N latitude (equatorial). Kelvin (K) units are used throughout. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Venus

Venus as an Exoplanet: I. An Initial Exploration of the 3-D Energy Balance for a CO2 Exoplanetary Atmosphere Around an M-Dwarf Star

by Keith CowingJune 5, 2024June 5, 2024

The chemical evolution of an exoplanetary Venus-like atmosphere is dependent upon the ultraviolet to near ultraviolet (FUV-NUV) radiation ratio from the parent star, the balance between CO2 photolysis and recombination […]

This computer-generated 3D model of Venus’ surface shows the volcano Sif Mons, which is exhibiting signs of ongoing activity. Using data from NASA’s Magellan mission, Italian researchers detected evidence of an eruption while the spacecraft orbited the planet in the early 1990s. Credit: NASA/JPL

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Status Report, Venus

Ongoing Venus Volcanic Activity Discovered With NASA’s Magellan Data

by Keith CowingMay 31, 2024May 31, 2024

Direct geological evidence of recent volcanic activity on Venus has been observed for a second time. Scientists in Italy analyzed archival data from NASA’s Magellan mission to reveal surface changes […]

An example of the DLR airborne radar data shows elevation change of several tens of yards around the volcanically active Litli-Hrútur volcano caused by the creation of new rock. The red indicates the most change; blue, the least. Credits: DLR

Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Venus

Lava World Away Team Practice: NASA’s VERITAS Science Team Studies Volcanic Iceland

by Keith CowingMay 18, 2024May 18, 2024

With its crushing atmospheric pressure, clouds of sulfuric acid, and searing surface temperature, Venus is an especially challenging place to study. But scientists know that observing its surface can provide […]

Mass - radius relations of puffy Venuses. a: M-R relations compared to observed exoplanets. The grey line is the M-R for terrestrial planets with an Earth-like core mass fraction of 0.325 (Plotnykov & Valencia 2020). Colored solid lines are puffy Venus radii assuming different Teq, with the fiducial, OC-like volatile C and H abundances. The orange dashed line is the M-R for Teq = 2000 K planets with a convective deep atmosphere to the MO surface, instead of a deep radiative zone. The shaded region is the range of M-R space an air-less rocky world can occupy for all possible Fe/Si ∈ [0, 1]. Planets less dense than this region require a volatile component. Measured exoplanet samples are from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (2023), and only contain those with relative errors below 30%. The nine planets highlighted with black circles are our preferred puffy Venus candidates. In rising mass order, they are GJ 1252 b, TOI-500 b, TOI-561 b, Kepler-10 b, Kepler-36 b, HD 219134 b, HD 3167 b, WASP-47 e, and 55 Cnc e. TOI-561 b’s radius is from Patel et al. (2023); its mass is from Brinkman et al. (2023) b: M-R of puffy Venuses with a range of chondritic C abundances, more opaque lines correspond to less C. They are color-coded by temperature - Teq = 1000 K (blue) and 2000 K (orange). The dashed orange line is for wet CI composition, while the solid line with the same color is for dry CI composition. The dotted portion of dry CI, 1000 K line are atmospheres that should experience graphite precipitation; see text. c: M-R of models assuming different chemical scenarios - I (solid), local chemical equilibrium throughout the atmosphere, II (dash-dot), chemical equilibrium at the MO surface, and a CO2 + H2O atmosphere (dotted). Fiducial OC C and H abundances are used. Same color-coding as b. The solid 1000 K and 2000 K lines in a, the 2 OC lines in b, and the 2 Scenario I lines in c are the same. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Venus

Puffy Venuses: the Mass-Radius Impact of Carbon-Rich Atmospheres on Lava Worlds

by Keith CowingMay 16, 2024May 16, 2024

The recent advancements in exoplanet observations enable the potential detection of exo-Venuses, rocky planets with carbon-rich atmospheres. How extended these atmospheres can be, given high carbon abundances, has not been […]

Lifetime (in Myr) of the MO-outgassed atmosphere as a function of planetary mass (x-axis), and incoming XUV flux (LXUV, y-axis), normalized by the solar XUV flux received by the Earth 4.5 Ga (L sun XUV(t=4.5 Ga)) from Ribas et al. (2005), for the cases most prone to hydrodynamic escape (∆IW “ ´5 and Φ “ 0.1). The loci in which the crossover mass matches the molecular mass of H2O (black), CO or N2 (purple), and CO2 (white) are also represented. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

Volatile Atmospheres Of Lava Worlds

by Keith CowingMay 16, 2024

A magma ocean (MO) is thought to be a ubiquitous stage in the early evolution of rocky planets and exoplanets. During the lifetime of the MO, exchanges between the interior […]

Self-consistent atmosphere models of 55 Cnc e. The NIRCam relative eclipse depths are offset to a mean depth of 60 ppm. Previous Spitzer measurements 24 are shown in gray. The black dashed lines are blackbody models at the temperatures indicated in the plot. The vaporized-rock model was simulated using the rocky composition that corresponds to the bulk silicate Earth; using other plausible rock compositions results in qualitatively similar results (Extended Data Fig. 7). The atmosphere models are simulated either in a parameter exploration of CHONSP elemental abundances or with the assumption of volatile equilibrium with an underlying magma ocean. The models shown are selected from those that provide adequate fits to the data. The volatile atmosphere models with enhanced outgassing of rock-forming elements can cause substantial changes in the eclipse depth and the emission spectra. The models are smoothed to R=100 for the clarity of illustration. Model results binned to the same wavelength channels as the MIRI data are shown as colored points. The oxygen fugacity (fO2 ) describes the redox condition of the magma and fO2=IW-4 means a condition more reduced than the iron-wustite (IW) buffer by 4 orders of magnitude. The full sets of atmospheric models are described in Methods and Extended Data Figs. 8 and 9. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report

A Secondary Atmosphere On The Rocky Exoplanet 55 Cancri e

by Keith CowingMay 11, 2024

Characterizing rocky exoplanets is a central endeavor of astronomy, and yet the search for atmospheres on rocky exoplanets has hitherto resulted in either tight upper limits on the atmospheric mass […]

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Mars, Status Report, Venus

The Evolutionary Divergence Of Mars, Venus and Earth

by Keith CowingApril 23, 2024May 11, 2024

Mars, Venus and Earth are expected to have started in a hot molten state. Here, we discuss how these three terrestrial planets diverged in their evolution and what mechanisms could […]

Extended Data Fig. 5. Heat maps showing major metabolic potential functions and KEGG pathways for individual Halobacteria MAGs assembled from north Danakil hypersaline ecosystems. a, Presence (blue)-absence (white) of metabolic functions as inferred by Metabolic G in Danakil MAGs and representative GTDB genomes of Halobacteria. b, Modules of KEGG pathways identified in Halobacteria MAGs and GTDB reference genomes (outgroup). The blue color intensity indicates the completeness of the respective pathway (intense, complete). The names of our MAGs are highlighted in red. Aa, amino acid. -- biorxiv.org

Analog Studies, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report

Extremely Acidic Proteomes And Metabolic Flexibility In Bacteria And Highly Diversified Archaea Thriving In Geothermal Chaotropic Brines

by Keith CowingMarch 17, 2024November 21, 2025

Few described archaeal, and fewer bacterial, lineages thrive at salt-saturating conditions, such as solar saltern crystallizers (salinity above 30%-w/v).