Venus’ light slab hinders its development of planetary-scale subduction

Chen, Junxing; Jiang, Hehe; Tang, Ming; Hao, Jihua; Tian, Meng; Chu, Xu (2022). Venus’ light slab hinders its development of planetary-scale subduction. Nature Communications, 13(1), p. 7647. Springer Nature 10.1038/s41467-022-35304-3

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Terrestrial planet Venus has a similar size, mass, and bulk composition to Earth. Previous studies proposed that local plume-induced subduction existed on both early Earth and Venus, and this prototype subduction might initiate plate tectonics on Earth but not on Venus. In this study, we simulate the buoyancy of submerged slabs in a hypothesized 2-D thermo-metamorphic model. We analyze the thermal state of the slab, which is then used for calculating density in response to thermal and phase changes. The buoyancy of slab mantle lithosphere is primarily controlled by the temperatures and the buoyancy of slab crust is dominated by metamorphic phase changes. Difference in the eclogitization process contributes most to the slab buoyancy difference between Earth and Venus, which makes the subducted Venus’ slab consistently less dense than Earth’s. The greater chemical buoyancy on Venus, acting as a resistance to subduction, may have impeded the transition into self-sustained subduction and led to a different tectonic regime on Venus. This hypothesis may be further tested as more petrological data of Venus become available, which will further help to assess the impact of petro-tectonics on the planet’s habitability.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Space Research and Planetary Sciences
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute
10 Strategic Research Centers > Center for Space and Habitability (CSH)
08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > NCCR PlanetS

UniBE Contributor:

Tian, Meng (B)

Subjects:

500 Science > 520 Astronomy
500 Science > 530 Physics
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology

ISSN:

2041-1723

Publisher:

Springer Nature

Language:

English

Submitter:

Danielle Zemp

Date Deposited:

27 Feb 2023 14:16

Last Modified:

29 Mar 2023 23:38

Publisher DOI:

10.1038/s41467-022-35304-3

PubMed ID:

36496413

BORIS DOI:

10.48350/179295

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/179295

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