Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p43d1713l&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P43D-1713
Mathematics
Logic
[5464] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Remote Sensing, [5475] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Tectonics, [6281] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Titan, [8000] Structural Geology
Scientific paper
The Cassini RADAR has revealed mountainous features of relatively high topography around Titan. The origin of Titan's mountainous features has been attributed to two broad hypotheses: endogenic, formed by compressional or extensional tectonism, and exogenic, implying formation by impact cratering followed by erosion. To understand the tectonic and erosional contributions that have shaped Titan's mountains, it is important to utilize topographic data. Direct altimetric measurements have generally coarse resolution while stereo measurements from overlapping SAR swaths and SARTopo calculations have provided moderate-resolution topographic data for Titan. In addition, pixel-scale measurements of slopes and heights of mountain peaks have been obtained from the radarclinometry method. The purpose of this study is first, to study the global distribution of mountain peak heights and slopes using radarclinometry and, second, to analyze global and local structure through geomorphologic mapping and to utilize stress analysis to understand the tectonic history. Preliminary results for our studies of mountain heights from radarclinometry reveal peak heights range from 120 m to 3310 m in elevation with a mean maximum slope, or the steepest value over a pixel length for each mountain, of 29 degrees. Thus far, 200 mountains exceed 1 km in elevation, and these are dominantly found near the equator, perhaps indicating those mountains formed by a common process, where energy was concentrated. In comparison, rim heights on Ksa and Sinlap craters are 750-800 m, similar to heights of rims and central peaks on Ganymede (generally not over 1 km). This means crater rim heights are related to the formation process, which yields heights lower than those of mountain belts, and also to erosion, which has likely brought down the rim heights from their original values. Both effects mean that for Titan, with an ice lithosphere likely thinner then Ganymede's, tectonism that occurred more recently than the major impact phase is the most likely cause of higher features. Structural mapping enables us to determine mountain origins by revealing key morphologies. We mapped mountain chains with peak heights over 1 km as tectonic units. Structure maps of curvilinear mountain belts in the equatorial area highlight their general west-east orientation, with a strike of two general orientations of 80 degrees and 102 degrees. The sinuosity of the mountain belts in T61 and T8 is 1.02 to 1.34. The short wavelength structure of curved mountain chains near the equator and 200 W longitude is consistent with extension, with the average wavelength of sinuosity being on the order of 50 km, but further analysis is needed to identify if compressional or extensional tectonism caused their formation. Our mountain height distribution results and structural and stress analysis leads us to conclude the origin of most of the mountains on Titan is endogenic, from regional tectonic stresses. The tectonic structural mapping is intended to provide constraints on surficial, geological, and interior evolution and to facilitate future geophysical modeling on Titan.
Cassini RADAR Team
Kirk Randolph L.
Liu Zhiyi
Radebaugh Jani
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