...or anything else. The latest theory? Too much vulcanism.
Volcanos help keep Earth a vibrant, living planet. But in the past, Earth has also been the victim of what are called "large igneous provinces," where large numbers of eruptions over a long period of time cause mass extinctions. And we mean hundreds of thousands of years in some cases.
On Venus, it appears that several of these events in quick suggestion triggered the runaway greenhouse effect. 80% of the surface is lava fields.
Why did Earth escape this fate? My personal guess is that being a bit further from Sol, we have less energy and thus the eruptions here aren't quite as powerful.
We're going to study Venus more and see if this is true or not, but 80% seems like pretty damning evidence.
(I'm reminded of the Doctor Who episode "Inferno").
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