Water on Venus: New Insights from Tremolite Decomposition

✍ Scribed by Natasha M. Johnson; Bruce Fegley Jr.

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 164 KB
• Volume: 146
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0019-1035
• DOI: 10.1006/icar.2000.6392

✦ Synopsis

Venus is an extremely hot and dry planet with very little water in its atmosphere and no standing water on its surface. However, if Venus had had more water in the past, as the high D/H ratio implies, hydrous minerals might have formed. We present the first experimental study that examines the decomposition rate of hydrous minerals, specifically tremolite, with applications to Venus. We predict that tremolite can survive decomposition on Venus over geologic time scales at current and at higher surface temperatures. Thus, if future spacecraft can detect tremolite, this discovery could serve as evidence of a wetter Venusian history.