The mystery behind Venus' giant, crown-shaped geological features, known as coronae, may finally have an explanation: A "glass ceiling" in Venus' mantle is trapping heat and driving slow, shifting currents that might lead to the formation of the crown-like surface features, scientists propose in a new study.
"On Venus, there is a pattern that is telling us something," Madeleine Kerr, a doctoral candidate at the University of San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the study's lead author, said in a statement. "We think what we found is the key to unlocking the mystery of the origin of these coronae."
