Titan's topography, strange.... |
Titan's topography, strange.... |
Apr 12 2009, 12:44 PM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
Recent article in Science by Zebker et al.:
Zebker et al. Science in press, "Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan". doi: 10.1126/science.1168905 (published online April 2, 2009) Link to abstract (pay-for article): http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1168905 Article on spaceref discusses this paper: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=27912 Figure 3 from the Science article is a global elevation map relative to barycenter. Key points of article:
"Xanadu seems to be systematically lower than other parts of the equatorial belt, and not uplifted like most mountainous areas on Earth." (quote from Fig. 3 caption in article) -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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Oct 4 2009, 08:31 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Against that suggestion I would note that these ovals really are very elongated and seem to be nicely aligned with the flow direction. There are craters and other raised features with leeward tails on Titan, but those do not resemble the spooky dude formation at all. Having said that, the possibility that resistant bedrock contributes part of the morphology, perhaps an important functional part, is also recognised in the literature and I wouldn't dismiss it entirely. My inclination for the moment, though, is to see the whole thing - dark playa material and bright pebbly moraines - as a drift deposit.
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Oct 6 2009, 08:20 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 708 Joined: 1-April 08 From: Minnesota ! Member No.: 4081 |
Against that suggestion I would note that these ovals really are very elongated and seem to be nicely aligned with the flow direction ... I must confess the more I study the Huygen's channel the more similarities I find to some Earth catastrophic stream carved channel lands but at a smaller scale. Using the Channeled Scablands of the USA state of Washington for comparison one can find A) tapered streamlined elevations pointing downstream with alcoves and basins upstream. B oval scour basins at different elevations C) small channels cut through eroded ridges and D) other streamlined hills and erosional deposits pointing downstream at slightly different angles. If the spooky dudes are rock-hard water ice constructs wouldn't they be expected to be relatively resistant to moderate methane currents that would scour and remove looser non-ice deposits and small ice pebbles like the scabland floods removed loess and softer sedimentary rock while underlying bedrock was partially resistant? |
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