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Cytherean type worlds

Hot, Venus-like greenhouse worlds

Cytherean world
Image from LordOther
A Cytherian type world orbiting a red dwarf, with sulphur-rich clouds
These are hellish planets, often termed 'Venusian' after the prototype world in the Sol System, their trademark thick atmospheres formed by unrelenting volcanic activity and the buildup of greenhouse gases over several hundred million years. As such, the planetary carbon cycle has broken down and completely ceased due to the resulting loss of water from the surface and the atmosphere. Initially, these worlds likely began with large amounts of water, but its loss causes the tectonic cycle to lock up and the atmosphere is no longer processed into the planet's crust, while out-gassing volcanoes continue to add to the atmosphere.

Eventually an atmosphere hundreds of time as thick as a standard Gaian world's is formed, while the surface is riddled with volcanoes. These volcanoes also thicken the surface crust, eventually to the point where much of the activity is literally penned beneath the surface. Every few hundred million years, however, this activity reaches a point where the entire surface of the planet turns over in a planet-wide catastrophe, and the thickening process begins again once the internal heat has been released.
Venus before Terraforming
Image from Steve Bowers
Venus, before the world was finally terraformed
Example; Venus (before terraforming)
Subtypes: PelaCytherian (previously PelaVenusian) and EuCytherian (previously EuVenusian)
 
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Appears in Topics
Planetology
 
Development Notes
Text by John M. Dollan
Initially published on 18 November 2008.

 
 
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