Coupling the atmosphere with interior dynamics: Implications for the resurfacing of Venus

We calculated 2D and 3D mantle convection models for Venus using digitized atmosphere temperatures from the model of Bullock and Grinspoon (Bullock, MA., Grinspoon, D.H. [2001]. Icarus 150, 19-37) to study the interaction between interior dynamics and atmosphere thermal evolution. The coupling between atmosphere and interior occurs through mantle degassing and the effect of varying concentrations of the greenhouse gas H2O on the surface temperature. Exospheric loss of hydrogen to space is accounted for as a H2O sink. The surface temperature enters the mantle convection model as a boundary condition. Our results suggest a self-consistent feedback mechanism between the interior and the atmosphere resulting in spatial-temporal surface renewal. Greenhouse warming of the atmosphere results in an increase in the surface temperature. Whenever the surface temperature reaches a critical value, the viscosity difference across the lithosphere becomes smaller than about 10(5) and the surface becomes locally mobile. The critical surface temperature depends on the activation energy for mantle creep, the stress exponent in the non-Newtonian mantle rheology law, and the mantle temperature. Surface renewal together with surface lava flow may explain why the surface of Venus is young on average, i.e. not older than a few hundred million years. The mobilization of the near-surface lithosphere increases the rate of heat removal from the mantle and thereby the interior cooling rate. The enhanced cooling results in a reduction of the water outgassing rates. As a consequence of decreasing water concentrations in the atmosphere, the surface temperature decreases. Our model calculations suggest that Venus should have been geologically active until recently. This is in agreement with several lines of observational evidence from thermal emissivity measurements and crater distribution analyses. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.