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The Young Volcanic Rises on Venus: a Key Scientific Target for Future Orbital and in-situ Measurements on Venus

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Abstract

A number of new Venus mission concepts are being currently evaluated for final approval, such as the NASA VERITAS and DAVINCI+, the Roscosmos-NASA Venera-D and the ESA EnVision proposals. These missions would analyze different aspects of the Earth’s twin planet: the chemistry and structure of its atmosphere, the spectral characteristics and composition of its surface, and its gravity anomalies. The wealth of high-resolution data to be produced by these future missions would likely shed new light on the major science questions. In this regard, one of the major debates concerns whether Venus underwent (and it is currently undergoing) through several episodes of abrupt and catastrophic resurfacing which rejuvenated its entire surface in a short amount of time, or its volcanism has been more steady and constant in time. Recent studies of Imdr Regio, one of the young volcanic rises, have provided hints indicating that volcanic as well as tectonic activity may be still ongoing in that area. The young volcanic rises are generated and supported by underlying active mantle plumes and can be considered as the some of the youngest geologic terrains of Venus. Studying how the rate and styles of volcanic and tectonic activities are evolving through time will tell us more about the interior structure of Venus, shedding some light on the major debate between catastrophic and equilibrium resurfacings. For this reason, we propose here the young volcanic rises, and in particular Idunn Mons of Imdr Regio, as potential target sites for future orbital and in-situ investigations.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

P. D’Incecco thanks the European Union for the financial support through the “Programma Operativo Nazionale” (PON) Attraction and International Mobility (AIM) grant AIM1892731. This is APSI contribution no. 14.

J. Filiberto thanks partial support from NASA SSW grant 80NSSC17K0766. This is LPI contribution no. 2594. LPI is operated by USRA under a cooperative agreement with the Science Mission Directorate of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

D.A. Gorinov thanks the program #АААА-А18-118052890092-7 of the Ministry of High Education and Science of Russian Federation for the support.

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D’Incecco, P., Filiberto, J., López, I. et al. The Young Volcanic Rises on Venus: a Key Scientific Target for Future Orbital and in-situ Measurements on Venus. Sol Syst Res 55, 315–323 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0038094621040031

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