IGPP is pleased to invite you to join its Fall 2023 Seminar Series presentation featuring Caltech's Anna Gulcher. Dr. Gulcher's talk, "Unveiling Venus through geodynamic modelling of mantle dynamics, tectonics, and volcanism" will occur at 12pm October 3, 2023.
Time: 12:00 pm, Pacific Time
Location: Munk Conference Room and Zoom https://ucsd.zoom.us/j/93654851631?pwd=eHBzVkRxN3ZZZllxNHlmWXdRZjdEUT09 (password: igpp)
Abstract: Venus and Earth share many similarities, such as size, mass, and chemical makeup. Yet, Earth’s environment is habitable, while that of Venus is harsh with a crushingly thick atmosphere over an extremely hot, rocky desert surface. A fundamental question driving Earth, planetary, and exoplanetary sciences is why Earth and Venus have evolved so differently. Several upcoming space missions to Venus, such as NASA’s VERITAS and ESA/NASA’s EnVision, aim to shed light on this mystery. Unlike Earth, Venus lacks a mosaic of mobile tectonic plates. Instead, Venus’ global tectonics is driven by mantle upwellings, intrusive magmatism, and lithospheric deformation, resulting in a Venusian surface scarred by many tectonic and volcanic structures. Unravelling the origin of these features holds clues for the evolution of Venus’ interior, surface, and even its atmosphere.
In this seminar, I will present a geodynamical perspective on the development of several important surface features on Venus. I will mostly focus on 3D tectono-magmatic modelling of the unique “corona” features as well as extensional rift tectonics (“chasmatae”). Linking Venus’ deep interior to its surface and atmosphere through volcanism and resurfacing, these structures provide unique insights into Venus’ long-term evolution and present-day state. Relevant to several Venus space missions that are currently under development, I will outline key hypotheses on Venus’ tectonics and volcanism to be tested with the future mission data. Finally, I will touch upon the synergies of Venus sciences with Earth and (exo)planetary sciences, which highlights the importance of studying our mysterious twin planet for the wider scientific community.