Characterizing Patterns of Resurfacing on Venus With Volcanoes and Coronae

Abstract One of the major research questions for Venus is the manner in which it resurfaces itself, with a near‐random distribution of a relatively few craters providing the only age constraints for the planet's surface. We use volcanoes and their temporal and spatial relationships to coronae to characterize patterns of coronal resurfacing for different geological settings. Analysis of the population density of small volcanoes associated with coronae demonstrates that coronae and small volcanoes are anticorrelated at a regional scale for the low‐lying, volcanic plains. In addition, stratigraphic analysis of the relative age of volcanoes near coronae suggests that pre‐coronal volcanic cones are being erased then replaced by fewer volcanic edifices. When taken into consideration with observations of coronal lava flows preserved in the process of destroying clusters of volcanoes near coronae, this suggests that coronae are potentially an important resurfacing mechanism for Venusian plains, affecting up to 27% of the planet's surface with a resurfacing rate of 100s km 2 /yr. This model of coronal resurfacing is consistent with patchwork resurfacing that may produce the random distribution of large craters on Venus and demonstrates that volcanoes may be useful for characterizing patterns of resurfacing when craters are rare.