The Mystery of Venus' Pancake Volcanoes

Venus is a planet that never fails to surprise. It has a lot of volcanoes. More than 1, 600 large volcanoes have been spotted so far. Among these, there are some that are quite odd. They are called pancake domes. These are not your typical volcanoes. They are wide and flat, stretching for miles, but only half a mile high. They look like giant, circular pancakes rising from the planet's surface. The mystery of these pancake domes has puzzled scientists for a long time. What makes them so flat and wide? One theory suggests that they are made from super-sticky lava. This lava moves slowly under its own weight and eventually solidifies into the pancake shape. However, this might not be the whole story. A recent study has shed new light on the formation of these pancake domes. The study suggests that the planet's upper crust plays a significant role. Venus' crust is not uniform. In some areas, it is more flexible, like the skin of an orange. When a heavy load is placed on it, it dimples, creating a bulge around the dome. This bulge prevents the lava from flowing further, causing it to accumulate and form the pancake shape. The study focused on one specific pancake dome called Narina Tholus. Using data from NASA's Magellan mission, the researchers created a virtual model of the dome. They then simulated different types of lava flowing on both flexible and rigid crusts. The results showed that domes formed on a flexible crust had flat tops and steep sides, characteristic of the pancake domes. The flexible crust's domes also had bulges similar to those found around Narina Tholus. However, the lava's density also mattered. Only high-density lavas produced both the correct dome shapes and flexural signatures. These lavas were incredibly viscous, taking hundreds of thousands of years to form the domes. The study's main limitation is that it only used data from one dome. Future missions to Venus, like NASA's VERITAS program, could provide more data to test the model. Understanding the formation of these pancake domes is not just about satisfying curiosity. It could also provide insights into the geological activity of Venus. The planet is often referred to as Earth's "evil twin. "It is similar in size and composition to Earth, but its surface is a hellish landscape of extreme heat and pressure. Studying these pancake domes could help scientists understand how planets evolve and change over time.