MAPPING AND MODELING VENUSIAN CHANNELIZED LAVA FLOWS IN PREPARATION FOR FUTURE MISSION DATA

Prior studies of the Venus surface identified a diverse assortment of volcanic features and lava flow morphologies and presented evidence for recent and possibly ongoing volcanic activity. Data returned by the Venus Express mission’s Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) instrument have shown a correlation between high emissivity regions and volcanically young surface units. Here we present new results on two aspects of ongoing research that can be used to inform future data analysis from the planned missions, including potential priority locations for new volcanic activity and the expected flow emplacement and cooling timescales. First, we present updated results for the Venusian Channelized Flow Catalogue (VCFC), with a specific focus on the location of channelized lava flows in relation to high emissivity regions. The compilation of this catalogue is ongoing, with ~33% of the surface investigated thus far. Second, we use the Venus adapted version of the PyFLOWGO thermorheological lava flow model to reproduce the emplacement of channelized lava flows in high emissivity regions. As an example, we modeled a channelized lava flow SW of Mertseger Mons, using rheologic inputs from the 1975 Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption (GTFE), Russia and a constant slope of 1° to reproduce the 48 km flow with an effusion rate of 890 m³/s. This flow covers a surface area of 19.6 km² and has a volume of 0.15 km³ (using the modeled channel depth), with a minimum emplacement duration of ~48 hrs. Modeling results are within the spatial and temporal resolution anticipated for instruments on VERITAS, for example, to detect the presence and cooling of such a flow if it were newly erupted while the satellite was in orbit.