Volcanism in the Solar System: Review, synthesis, and some outstanding questions

On Earth, volcanological studies are commonly motivated by natural disaster prevention: understanding how volcanoes work helps us to predict their behaviors, thereby helping to save human lives. Volcanic risks to human life and property are not (yet!) an extraterrestrial concern, so our drive to understand volcanism throughout the Solar System is underpinned by a more fundamental goal: the need to peel back a planet’s surface to learn about its interior, and how it compares to our own. Earth provides us with one volcanic paradigm: if a model for volcanic behavior works on Earth, applying the same model to an extraterrestrial volcano reveals any faulty assumptions or misunderstandings contained within the model. Only through comparisons with volcanoes on other planets can we fully test our understanding of terrestrial volcanic processes.