The Surface and Atmosphere of Venus: Evolution and Present State

Abstract

Most models of atmospheric evolution start with the reasonable but unverified assumption that the original atmospheric inventories of Venus and Earth were similar. Although the two planets have similar overall abundances of nitrogen and carbon, the present day water inventory of Venus is lower than that of Earth by a factor of 10⁵. The original water abundance of Venus is highly unconstrained. The high D/H ratio observed, 2.5 ×10^{− 2} or ≈ 150 times terrestrial (Donahue et al. 1997) has been cited as evidence of a large primordial water endowment (Donahue et al. 1982). Yet, given the likelihood of geologically recent water sources and the large uncertainty in the modern and past hydrogen and deuterium escape fluxes, the large D/H may not reflect the primordial water abundance but rather may result from the history of escape and resupply in the most recent ≈ 10⁹ years of planetary evolution (Donahue et al. 1997, Grinspoon 1993, 1997). Thus, at present the best arguments for a sizable early Venusian water endowment remain dependent on models of planet formation and early volatile delivery. Most models of water delivery to early Earth involve impact processes that would have also supplied Venus with abundant water (Grinspoon 1987, Ip et al. 1998, Morbidelli et al. 2000). Stochastic processes could have created large inequities in original volatile inventory among neighboring planets (Morbidelli et al. 2000). However, given the great similarity in bulk densities and their close proximity in the Solar System the best assumption at present is that Venus and Earth started with similar water abundances.