Icarus 217 (2012) 524–533 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Icarus journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/icarus Topographic comparisons of uplift features on Venus and Earth: Implications for Venus tectonics ⇑ Paul R. Stoddard a, , Donna M. Jurdy b a Dept. of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115-2854, United States b Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208-2150, United States article info abstract Article history: Venus and Earth display different hypsography. We use topographic profiles to search for well-under- Available online 12 September 2011 stood terrestrial analogs to venusian features. Specifically, by using cross-correlation, we correlate aver- age profiles for terrestrial rifts (slow and fast, ‘‘ultra-slow,’’ incipient and inactive) and also hotspots Keywords: (oceanic and continental) with those for venusian chasmata and regiones, to draw inferences as to the Venus, Surface processes responsible for shaping Venus’ surface. Correlations tend to improve with faster spreading Earth rates; Venus’ correlations rank considerably lower than terrestrial ones, suggesting that if chasmata Tectonics are analogous to terrestrial spreading centers, then spreading on Venus barely attains ultra-slow rates. Individual features’ normalized average profiles are correlated with profiles of other such features to establish the degree of similarity, which in turn allows for the construction of a covariance matrix. Prin- cipal component analysis of this covariance matrix shows that Yellowstone more strongly resembles Atla, Beta and W. Eistla regiones than it does the terrestrial oceanic hotspots, and that venusian chasmata, especially Ganis, most closely resemble the ultra-slow spreading Arctic ridge. Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Earth (Parsons, 1981). Venus and Earth also both have large regions of apparent upwelling – hotspots on Earth, and regiones on Venus Earth and Venus have many similar features, yet their tectonic (Stofan and Smrekar, 2005). These are marked by broad topo- histories are quite different. Like the Earth, Venus has a global rift graphic and geoid highs as well as evidence of volcanic activity. system, which has been cited as evidence of tectonic activity, de- In this paper, we use topographic profiles to look for well- spite the apparent lack of Earth-style plate tectonics. Both systems understood terrestrial analogs to venusian features. Specifically, are marked by large ridges, usually with central grabens. On Earth, we cross correlate average profiles for terrestrial rifts, slow and the topography of the rifts can be modeled well by a cooling half- fast, as well as ‘‘ultra-slow’’, incipient and extinct, and hotspots space and the spreading of two divergent plates. The origin of the (oceanic and continental) with those for a variety of venusian chas- topographic signature on Venus, however, remains enigmatic. Even mata and regiones. Comparing the profiles, we then draw infer- with 1978 Pioneer mission altimetry, the absence of topographic ences as to the processes responsible for shaping Venus’ surface. features analogous to ocean ridges was apparent (Kaula and Phil- lips, 1981). These data enabled Schaber (1982) to identify a global 1.1. Hypsography system of extensional features on Venus as evidence of tectonic activity. He attributed the extension to upwelling processes, such Hypsographic curves represent the relative area/distribution of as at Earth’s continental rift zones, and noted that the global scope a body’s topography. Even a preliminary glance at the hypsographs of these extension zones, similar in scale to Earth’s mid-ocean for Earth, Venus, the Moon, and Mars (Fig. 1) shows a large variety ridges, could be fit by great circle arcs. of distributions. We note the well-known bimodal distribution of Venus’ rift zones (termed ‘‘chasmata’’) extend 1000s of kilome- topography for Earth, reflecting the topographic dichotomy of con- ters. This chasma system, as imaged by Magellan, can be fit with tinents and ocean basins, a consequence of plate tectonic pro- great circles measuring 54,464 km (Jurdy and Stefanick, 1999). cesses. At the other end of the spectrum, we see Venus with a When corrected for the smaller size of Venus, this nearly matches near-Gaussian distribution, perhaps signifying one dominant the 59,200-km total length of the spreading ridges determined for resurfacing process – volcanism. The Moon looks similar to Venus in its hypsographic distribution, while Mars more closely resem- ⇑ Corresponding author. bles the Earth. Each of these bodies has its unique surface-shaping E-mail address: [email protected] (P.R. Stoddard). processes and history recorded in its hypsography. 0019-1035/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.09.003 P.R. Stoddard, D.M. Jurdy / Icarus 217 (2012) 524–533 525 Fig. 1. Hypsographs for Venus, Earth, Moon, and Mars. A best-fit Gaussian curve (red) is shown for Venus. Blue regions represent below sea-level portions of the terrestrial curve, and portions below two sea levels proposed for Mars. The bimodal distribution for Earth is attributable to differing densities of basalt (seafloor) and granite (continents). Venus’ distribution is distinctly unimodal, implying only one dominant surface rock type. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) The underlying importance of Earth’s bimodal hypsography was Moon and Earth’s oceans. This suggests that Venus’s hypsography noted early last century. In 1929, Wegener (1966, p. 37) presciently may represent the typical distribution of a one rock-type surface. observed: ‘‘In the whole of geophysics there is hardly another law Mars may have seen two ancient sea-level stands (Parker et al., of such clarity and reliability as this – that there are two preferen- 1993). Both have signatures in the hypsograph (Fig. 1) with the tial levels for the world’s surface which occur in alternation side by lower stand much more pronounced, and indeed only the deeper side, and are represented by the continents and ocean floors, sea-level stand is supported by MOLA evidence (Head et al., respectively. It is therefore very surprising that scarcely anyone 1999). Although Mars’ bimodal distribution is similar to that has tried to explain this law, which has, after all, been well known caused by Earth’s plate tectonic processes, it has been attributed for some time... In this way we have achieved for the first time a to offset of center of mass from center of figure (Smith and Zuber, plausible explanation...’’ He explained the bimodal elevation dis- 1996). tribution with the fundamental difference in continental and oce- The Moon’s hypsographic curve features a shoulder at about anic crust, this supporting his theory of Continental Drift. As À3 km, perhaps due to volcanic infill of major basins. Another sa- Wegener realized, topographic data hold clues for understanding tellite, Saturn’s Titan, unique in so many ways, displays a hypso- the history of a planet’s surface. Earth’s hypsometric curve has metric curve with a negative tail (Lorenz et al., 2011). This could more recently been explained by plate tectonics, and shows some be the result of collapse on Titan’s surface. Cassini’s radar can im- second-order effects, such as the peaks in the seafloor portion, age Titan’s surface beneath the thick clouds and has revealed which may reflect periods of fast spreading. numerous dark circular features in the equatorial region. These Unlike Earth, Venus does not appear to have plate tectonics. may be related to methane–cryovolcanism, and have been inter- Comparison of the hypsographs for the two planets (Fig. 1) reflects preted as collapse features, or pits. For a portion of Cassini’s equa- major differences in the processes shaping their surfaces – Earth’s torial swath, Adams and Jurdy (2011) identified 195 pits with bimodal distribution results from the two major rock types, granite diameters between 1 and 6 km (3–17 pixels), and from the Poisson and basalt, whereas Venus seems dominated by only one type of distribution they inferred the probable number of additional pits in rock, presumably basalt. Of the terrestrial bodies, Venus displays the region below the resolution of 3 pixels. They conclude that in the simplest hypsography, with 80% of its surface within 1 km ele- total, pits could account for 0.5% of the area, thus contributing vation of the mean (Ford and Pettengill, 1992). The near-Gaussian noticeably to Titan’s hypsography. distribution bears an overall similarity to the distribution of the The remaining unexplored terrestrial body, Mercury, is sched- continental portion of Earth’s curve and the higher elevation por- uled to be fully mapped by MESSENGER, following its March, tion of Mars’ curve, and to a lesser degree, to the curves of the 2011 orbit insertion. Until then, we can only guess about the char- 526 P.R. Stoddard, D.M. Jurdy / Icarus 217 (2012) 524–533 acter of its hypsometry. Based on a superficial resemblance with rifts from Earth and Venus. Terrestrial and venusian uplift exam- the Moon in terms of cratering and suspected volcanic provinces, ples are shown in Fig. 4. we might anticipate a hypsometry for Mercury similar to that of We examine a range of terrestrial spreading centers: fast (East the Moon. Pacific Rise), slow (Mid-Atlantic Ridge), ultra-slow (Arctic), incipi- ent (East Africa Rift), and extinct (Labrador Rift), and compare 2. Procedure these to several chasmata on Venus (Devana, Ganis, Juno, Parga, Kuanja, and an isolated, unnamed one, here called ‘‘Lonely’’ posi- This study utilizes Magellan topography data for Venus and tioned in the area 40–65°S, 45°W–40°E). For upwelling regions, ETOP05 for Earth. The Magellan mission, 1990–1994, provided we consider the oceanic Hawaii, Reunion, and Iceland hotspots nearly full coverage of Venus.