Question

Venus's "canale Baltis Vallis" is 6,800 km long, the longest known channel on any body in the solar system. Its sediments (outflow deposits at its mouth) cover a plain twice the size of the United States. What is thought to have formed this channel?

Answer 1

The Baltis Vallis, the longest known channel in the solar system located on Venus, is proposed to have been formed by lava channels - a process where eruptive molten rock flows and cools down to eventually form a canal.

Step-by-step explanation:

The term refers to the creation of canals as lava, under the pressure of a volcanic eruption, flows down a slope and cools down, ultimately forming a natural tunnel or conduit.

Planetary geologists propose that massive quantities of molten rocks oozed out of cracks in Venus's crust and rolled down towards lower areas, which then solidified and created the channel.

Once the lava outflow decreased, only the hardened and cooled material forming the walls and roof of the channel remained, thus creating the Baltis Vallis.

Learn more about Baltis Vallis formation