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The surface of Venus is dominated by geologic features that include volcanoes, large impact craters, and aeolian erosion and sedimentation landforms. Venus has a topography reflecting its single, strong crustal plate, with a unimodal elevation distribution (over 90% of the surface lies within an elevation of -1.0 and 2.5 km) [1] that preserves geologic structures for long periods of time.
The surface of Venus is comparatively flat. When 93% of the topography was mapped by Pioneer Venus Orbiter, scientists found that the total distance from the lowest point to the highest point on the entire surface was about 13 kilometres (8.1 mi), about the same as the vertical distance between the Earth's ocean floor and the higher summits of the Himalayas.
It is sometimes called Earth's "sister planet" due to their similar size, gravity, and bulk composition (Venus is both the closest planet to Earth and the planet closest in size to Earth). The surface of Venus is covered by a dense atmosphere and presents clear evidence of former violent volcanic activity.
Scientists say the finding gives an insight into what geological activity might have been like on a much younger Earth. Surface of Venus is moving like pack ice on a lake, research suggests Skip ...
Venus is similar in size and distance from the sun when compared with Earth, and some researchers believe the planet might have even had an Earth-like climate at some point.
The most abundant silicate minerals on the Earth's surface include quartz, the feldspars, amphibole, mica, pyroxene, and olivine. [25] Common carbonate minerals include calcite (found in limestone), aragonite, and dolomite. [26] Elevation histogram of the surface of the Earth—approximately 71% of the Earth's surface is covered with water.
Although the surface conditions on Venus are no longer hospitable to any terrestrial-like life that might have formed before this event, there is speculation that life may exist in the upper cloud layers of Venus, 50 km (30 mi) above the surface, where atmospheric conditions are the most Earth-like in the Solar System, [106] with temperatures ...
The troposphere on Venus contains 99% of the atmosphere by mass. 90% of the atmosphere of Venus is within 28 km (17.5 mi) of the surface; by comparison, 90% of the atmosphere of Earth is within 16 km (10 mi) of the surface. At a height of 50 km (31 mi) the atmospheric pressure is approximately equal to that at the surface of Earth. [34]