Venus may have remained temperate and potentially habitable for most of its history—then water-thin carbonatite lava carved vast channels, including one stretching 6,800 kilometres, and released enoug
A scientific study proposes that rare carbonatite lava flows, rather than water, carved the massive 6,800-kilometer channels found on Venus. This hypothesis also suggests these volcanic events may have contributed to the planet's current carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere.
Why it matters
Advances our understanding of planetary geology and the evolution of Venus's extreme climate, providing insights into why the planet is currently uninhabitable.
A 2025 model links Venus’s 6,800-kilometre canali to rare, low-viscosity carbonatite lava and a potentially late addition of much of the planet’s carbon dioxide atmosphere.
Published September 5, 2026 · How we edit
Venus carries what look, at first glance, like river systems across its volcanic plains. They meander, divide around islands and sometimes preserve abandoned bends. One of them, Baltis Vallis, runs for roughly 6,800 kilometres, making it the longest known channel in the Solar System.
Water cannot explain these landforms under present conditions. Venus’s surface is close to 465°C, and its atmosphere presses down at roughly 92 times Earth’s sea-level pressure. The channels, known as canali , are generally understood to have carried lava.
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