Chapter 10: Earth-Like Planets
Not to Scale
Discussion Question
Your group has been asked by high NASA officials to start
planning the first human colony on Mars. Begin by making a
list of what sorts of things humans would need to bring along
to be able to survive for years on the surface of the red planet.
Venus Mars
• Venus approaches Earth more • the closest Mars ever gets
closely than any other planet to the Earth is 56 million
(40 million km) km
• Venus orbit is nearly a circle • Appears red due to the
• Venus appears very bright and presence of Iron oxide in
goes through phases its soil
• No ice or water • Polar Ice caps are detected
• Actual surface is not visible due • Experience seasons like
to dense clouds the Earth
• 70% of the sunlight is
reflected
These are among the best Earth-based photos of Mars, taken in 1988
when the planet was exceptionally close to Earth. The polar caps
and dark surface markings are evident but not topographic features.
The Geology of Planet Venus
• Venera 7 (1970): first probe to land and
broadcast data from the surface of Venus
• operated for 23 minutes
• US Magellan spacecraft mapped Venus
with a powerful imaging radar
• Use a radar instrument to probe
through the covered layer of clouds
• About 75 % is lowland lava plains
(similar to basaltic ocean basins of Earth)
• No evidence of plate tectonics
• Lava plains are due to large,
widespread of lava eruptions
The Geology of Planet Venus
Two full-scale continents of mountainous terrain
• Largest called Aphrodite
• Stretches 2/3 of the way around the planet
• Size of the continent of Africa
• Northern highland region Ishtar
• Size of Australia
• Contains the highest region on the planet
Impact Craters:
• Indicate persistent geological activity:
average surface age of 300 and 600 million
years
• Craters look fresh indicating the rate of
erosion or sediment deposition is very low
The Geology of Planet Venus
Venus experienced a planet-wide volcanic
convulsion between 300 and 600 million years
ago.
Tectonic: convection currents of molten material in
the mantle of Venus push and stretch the crust.
On lowland plains, tectonic forces have broken the
lava surface to create patterns of ridges and cracks.
Sif Mons: largest individual volcano
Size of about 500 km across and height of 3 km
Massive atmosphere of Venus
• The thick atmosphere of Venus
produces high temperatures
• The most abundant gas is carbon
dioxide (96%)
• Venus has a huge troposphere that
extends to 50 km above the surface
• In the upper troposphere, a thick cloud
layer composed of sulfur acid droplets
• Rain never reaches the ground
• The upper atmosphere has fast winds
that remain unexplained
Runaway Greenhouse Effect
• When CO2 and H2O were originally out-gassed from volcanoes to form
the secondary atmosphere, the temperature was too high for them to be
absorbed by rocks
• Precipitation (rain) never formed; therefore, no oceans or lakes were
produced
• Instead, a heavy blanket of greenhouse gasses surrounded the planet
• Equilibrium temperature was very high T=1500 K
• The water vapor rose to high altitude
• Hydrogen escaped into space
• The planet ended up hot and dry as a result
Discussion Question
As a publicity stunt, the mayor of Venus, Texas (there really is
such a town), proposes that NASA fund a mission to Venus
with humans on board. Clearly, the good mayor neglected to
take an astronomy course in college. Have your group
assemble a list of as many reasons as possible why it is
unlikely that humans will soon land on the surface of Venus.
Geology of Mars
• The surface of Mars appears quite reddish,
which indicates much of the iron remains
on the surface
• Color is due to iron oxide
• Very little differentiation occurred, and
the iron did not sink to the center of
the planet
• The surface of Mars is visible because the
atmosphere is very thin
• The surface has highland areas and
volcanic plains
• Half of the highland terrains consist of
impact craters
• Half contains younger volcanic plains
Geology of Mars
• Mars has volcanos, craters, large canyons, polar
ice, and frozen carbon dioxide.
• Lowest density of all the terrestrial planet
• Contains small metal core
• Composition largely of silicate rock
• No liquid material in its core; hence no magnetic
field
• The size of polar ice caps changes by
the season
Geology of Mars
• Lowland plains look similar to lunar Maria
• same density
• Formed between 3 to 4 billion years ago
due to extensive volcanic activity
• Mars has the largest volcano in the solar
system, Olympus Mons, with a diameter of
500 km and a summit that towers more than
20 km above the plains.
• Crater counting indicates age to be 100
million years old
• Valles Marineris: canyons on Mars
• Extends nearly a quarter of the
way around Mars
Geology of Mars
• Viking 1, Viking 2, and Pathfinder landed on a flat, low-land terrain
• Soil consists of clay and iron
• All rocks appeared to be of volcanic origin and had the same
composition
• Temperature varied greatly with seasons
• The summer temperature ranges from -33°C to -83°
Exploration to Mars
More than 50 spacecraft have been launched toward
Mars, but only about half were fully successful.
• US Mariner 4: flew past Mars in 1965 and transmitted 22
photos to Earth
• US Mariner 9: first spacecraft to orbit another planet and
mapped the entire surface of Mars in 1971
• Twin Viking spacecraft: sent photographs of the surface
and searched for evidence of life
• Pathfinder: solar-powered rover landed on Mars in 1997
• Twin Mars Exploration Rover (MER): jointly traveled 50
km
• InSight Lander of 2018: dig into the surface of Mars to
depth of 5 meters.
Impact Craters
a) An impact occurs:
• penetrates the surface two or three times its own diameter before
stopping
b) The projectile vaporizes, and a shock wave spreads through the lunar
rock
• its energy of motion is transferred into a shock wave and heat
c) Ejecta are thrown out of the crater
d) Overtime the material lands back to fill the crater
The Atmosphere of Mars
• Low air pressure: 1% of Earth’s atmospheric
pressure
• Composed mainly of Carbon dioxide (95%)
• Winds:
• Fast but exerts much less force than winds
on Earth
• Can develop planet-wide dust storms
• Clouds:
• Dust clouds
• Water-icy clouds
• Carbon dioxide clouds
Discussion Questions
Use the planetary data to determine how old, in Martian years,
each member of your group would be if they were born on Mars.
Do the same for Venus.
• A Venus year is 225 days
• A Martian year is 687 days
