Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Watters, T. R. Articles by Janes, D. M. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Coronae on Venus and Mars: Implications for similar structures on Earth

¹ Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 20560
² Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853

Complex volcano-tectonic structures, referred to as coronae, had not been described until the exploration of the surface of Venus. These large, generally circular structures are characterized by an elevated surface, concentric and radial fracture systems, and extensive volcanism. Thought to be unique to Venus, rare circular features on Mars bear a close resemblance to coronae. The most prominent corona-like feature on Mars is Alba Patera, a broad, low-relief, plateau-shaped volcano-tectonic center surrounded by an annulus of concentric fractures 600 km in diameter. A geophysical model for the formation of Venusian coronae involving uplift due to an ascending mantle diapir followed by gravitationally driven relaxation is applied to Mars. The results indicate that Alba Patera could have formed by such a mechanism. The formation of coronae and corona-like features on Venus and Mars from mantle diapirs suggests that similar structures may have formed in Earth's lithosphere.