Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p43d1714h&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P43D-1714
Mathematics
Logic
[6055] Planetary Sciences: Comets And Small Bodies / Surfaces, [6280] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Saturnian Satellites
Scientific paper
Rhea, Saturn's second largest moon, has a large extensional fault system at 80° E, ranging from 50° N to 10° S. Using Cassini images and two independent stereo techniques, we have constructed a large scale, high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of this region. We will use images draped over this DEM to perform geologic mapping in order to understand the growth and evolution of the fault system. Faults generally trend north-south with grabens up to 30 km wide and 3 km deep. Individual fault segments range from 5 km to 100 km in length and are spaced as closely as 2 km apart in an en echelon arrangement. The largest fault scarps trend NNW and consistently step eastward. Segment displacement:length ratios are ~0.02-0.03, similar to measurements made at Europa and Dione. Some of the faults transect craters of various ages, showing that tectonic activity postdates crater formation. We study the orientations, lengths, and vertical offsets along these faults to investigate whether the style of tectonics varies spatially and temporally. Some craters in the region appear to have a square like shape, indicating that crater growth may have been influenced by pre-existing fracture sets in the target body, such as in Meteor Crater in Arizona. We will map the orientations of large crater rims and compare them to the average fault orientation to test if there is a correlation. Such a relationship would suggest that extension was active both before and after crater formation. Additionally we take topographic profiles across strike to look for flexural deformation in the crust, the magnitude of which can give an estimate of the elastic thickness and heat flux during fault formation. Our preliminary results suggest that the elastic thickness can be no less than 10 km, or larger if the elastic moduli of the near surface materials are reduced compared to that of intact water ice. Based on this elastic thickness, the stresses which produced this graben are on the order of 0.1 MPa, comparable to those associated with likely stress-causing mechanisms.
Hammond N. P.
Kattenhorn Simon A.
Nimmo Francis
Phillips Cynthia B.
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