GEOLOGIC MAPPING ON VENUS: HOT AND HEAVY FIELD TRIPS

Dream of 100% exposure, easy field access and intriguing geologic problems? Take your class to Venus! Students conduct extraterrestrial field projects without leaving the lab using Magellan synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data. Concepts include: mapping principles, remote data interpretation, structure morphology and interaction, temporal relations, rheology, volcanic processes, and global-scale endogenic or exogenic processes. Students learn geologic maps are interpretations, and that they must think about the role of boundary conditions on geologic processes. Venus, considered Earth’s sister planet, is curiously dissimilar; but like Earth, Venus’ present and past differ. Under current environmental conditions (hot [~475°C], dry [essentially lacking water], and blanketed by a dense [92 bars] CO₂-rich atmosphere), Venus’ basaltic (?) surface is extremely strong. Venus’ ancient past was likely hotter and wetter—the potential result being significantly weaker (perhaps locally ductile?) basalt.

Classes travel to Venus at little expense using SAR data (http://www.mapaplanet.org/); synthetic stereo and topography data are also available. As with any fieldwork, there is no single right answer; mapping and analysis ultimately require consistency (Gilbert 1886), and benefit from multiple working hypotheses (Chamberlin 1897). Many possible styles, modes and volcanic processes emerge as students study areas that host large (50-600 km diameter, or larger!) tectonomagmatic features, tasked to: construct geologic maps, postulate 3D-relations, unravel geologic histories, outline hypotheses of formation, consider implications of their evolving interpretations, and compare and contrast features mapped by fellow students and in published studies. Students make discoveries, individually and collectively; their findings may even challenge published studies. Students experience the excitement of field discovery and problem solving first hand; they learn science by doing science.