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Science 7 August 1992:
Vol. 257. no. 5071, pp. 766 - 770
DOI: 10.1126/science.257.5071.766
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Articles

Evidence for Retrograde Lithospheric Subduction on Venus

David T. Sandwell 1 and Gerald Schubert 2

1 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093
2 Department of Earth and Space Sciences and Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024

Annular moats and outer rises around large Venus coronae such as Artemis, Latona, and Eithinoha are similar in arcuate planform and topography to the trenches and outer rises of terrestrial subduction zones. On Earth, trenches and outer rises are modeled as the flexural response of a thin elastic lithosphere to the bending moment of the subducted slab; this lithospheric flexure model also accounts for the trenches and outer rises outboard of the major coronae on Venus. Accordingly, it is proposed that retrograde lithospheric subduction may be occurring on the margins of the large Venus coronae while compensating back-arc extension is occurring in the expanding coronae interiors. Similar processes may be taking place at other deep arcuate trenches or chasmata on Venus such as those in the Dali-Diana chasmata area of eastern Aphrodite Terra.


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)