{"id":287378,"date":"2026-02-16T23:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287378\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T23:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T23:20:07","slug":"scientists-found-a-massive-lava-tube-hiding-beneath-the-surface-of-venus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287378\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Found a Massive Lava Tube Hiding Beneath the Surface of Venus"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists may have found the first evidence of underground tunnels lurking beneath the surface of Venus, carved by the planet\u2019s ancient volcanic activity.<\/p>\n

A team of researchers from the University of Trento spotted what appears to be an underground lava tube on Venus, the first subsurface feature ever detected on the volcanic world. The findings, detailed in a study<\/a> published in Nature this month, could confirm long-held theories about Venus\u2019 volcanism and how it shaped the planet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur knowledge of Venus is still limited, and until now we have never had the opportunity to directly observe processes occurring beneath the surface of Earth\u2019s twin planet,\u201d Lorenzo Bruzzone, a professor at the University of Trento and co-author of the study, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cThe identification of a volcanic cavity is therefore of particular importance, as it allows us to validate theories that for many years have only hypothesized their existence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Secret cave <\/p>\n

The scientists behind the study scoured through radio data collected by the Megallen mission<\/a> between 1990 and 1992. The spacecraft pierced through Venus\u2019 thick clouds to map its surface using synthetic aperture radar.<\/p>\n

The team analyzed the radar images to search for signs of localized surface collapse, and found what they believe to be an empty, subsurface lava tube near the planet\u2019s Nux Mons volcano. The lava tube is around 0.6 miles wide (1 kilometer), which is larger than ones found on Earth and Mars. Its roof has a thickness of around 490 feet (150 meters) and it boasts an empty cavity that\u2019s at least a quarter of a mile (375 meters) high.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Lava tubes are underground tunnels that are created by volcanic activity. They usually form as a by-product of basaltic lava flows, where low viscosity lava continues to flow beneath a surface of solidifying lava.<\/p>\n

Venus is the most volcanically active planet in the solar system<\/a>, and the planet\u2019s extreme volcanism has shaped its surface. Scientists have long theorized that Venus\u2019 volcanic history may have also resulted in a large underground network of lava tubes, but that has so far been hard to detect due to the planet\u2019s dense atmosphere.<\/p>\n

Underground tunnels <\/p>\n

The detection of the first lava tube on Venus suggests there may be more lurking beneath the planet\u2019s surface. \u201cThis discovery contributes to a deeper understanding of the processes that have shaped Venus\u2019s evolution and opens new perspectives for the study of the planet,\u201d Bruzzone said.<\/p>\n

The researchers behind the study suggest that new high-resolution images and data acquired by radar systems that penetrate the surface are needed to determine whether there are more lava tubes on Venus.<\/p>\n

Upcoming missions such as NASA\u2019s VERITAS and the European Space Agency\u2019s EnVision, both set to launch in 2031, may just have what it takes to peer beneath the surface of Venus in search of ancient tunnels carved by the planet\u2019s volcanic history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists may have found the first evidence of underground tunnels lurking beneath the surface of Venus, carved by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[111,139,69,147,3145,5495,14854],"class_list":{"0":"post-287378","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-solar-system","13":"tag-venus","14":"tag-volcanoes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}