On a ring origin of the equatorial ridge of Iapetus |
On a ring origin of the equatorial ridge of Iapetus |
Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Aug 29 2006, 06:18 PM
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Guests |
Wing Ip just had an interesting Iapetus-related paper published in GRL.
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Aug 31 2006, 10:00 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
Under the scenario proposed I would expect volatiles within the descending ring material to produce a temporary atmosphere around Japetus. Could this have provided sufficient drag to melt some of the infalling ices so that they fell as torrents of freezing rain or slush, solidifying pretty quickly on contact with the ground? I imagine this would produce a pretty hard ridge - a pile of 'cryolavas' rather than loose 'cryoregolith' - that would respond to subsequent (post-atmosphere) cratering similarly to the rest of the moon.
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