The Cassini Titan Radar Mapper is providing an unprecedented view of Titan’s surface geology. Here we use Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) image swaths (Ta-T30) obtained from October 2004 to December 2007 to infer the geologic processes that have shaped Titan’s surface. These SAR swaths cover about 20% of the surface, at a spatial resolution ranging from ∼350 m to ∼2 km. The SAR data are distributed over a wide latitudinal and longitudinal range, enabling some conclusions to be drawn about the global distribution of processes. They reveal a geologically complex surface that has been modified by all the major geologic processes seen on Earth - volcanism, tectonism, impact cratering, and erosion and deposition by fluvial and aeolian activity. In this paper, we map geomorphological units from SAR data and analyze their areal distribution and relative ages of modification in order to infer the geologic evolution of Titan’s surface. We find that dunes and hummocky and mountainous terrains are more widespread than lakes, putative cryovolcanic features, mottled plains, and craters and crateriform structures that may be due to impact. Undifferentiated plains are the largest areal unit; their origin is uncertain. In terms of latitudinal distribution, dunes and hummocky and mountainous terrains are located mostly at low latitudes (less than 30°), with no dunes being present above 60°. Channels formed by fluvial activity are present at all latitudes, but lakes are at high latitudes only. Crateriform structures that may have been formed by impact appear to be uniformly distributed with latitude, but the well-preserved impact craters are all located at low latitudes, possibly indicating that more resurfacing has occurred at higher latitudes. Cryovolcanic features are not ubiquitous, and are mostly located between 30° and 60° north. We examine temporal relationships between units wherever possible, and conclude that aeolian and fluvial/pluvial/lacustrine processes are the most recent, while tectonic processes that led to the formation of mountains and Xanadu are likely the most ancient. 相似文献
The last two successful flybys of Io by Galileo in 2001 (orbits I31, I32) allowed the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer to enrich its collection of IR spectral image cubes of the satellite. These data cover hemispheric portions of Io, several volcanic centers as well as their surroundings with a spatial resolution ranging from 2 to 93 km pixel−1. They map thermal emission from the hot-spots and the distribution of solid SO2 in the 1.0-4.7 μm spectral range. We obtain maps of SO2 abundance and granularity from the NIMS data using the method of Douté et al. (2002, Icarus 158, 460-482). The maps are correlated to distinguish four different physical units that indicate zones of SO2 condensation, metamorphism and sublimation. We relate these information with visible images from Galileo's Solid State Imaging System and with detailed mapping of the thermal emission produced by Io's surface. Our principal goal is to understand the mechanisms controlling how lava, pyroclastics and gas are emitted by different types of volcanoes and how these products evolve. The 800 km diameter white ring of fallout created by a violent “Pillanian” eruption during summer of 2001 is at least partly composed of solid SO2 and has enriched preexisting regional deposits. Orange materials have been recently or are currently emplaced 240 km south from the main eruption site, possibly as sulfur flows. A similar event may have taken place in the past at Ababinili Patera (12.5° N, 142° W). Carefull study of SO2 maps covering the Emakong region also suggests that sulfur forms the bright channel-fed flow emerging from the south eastern side of the caldera. Within the main caldera of Tvashtar Catena completely cooled patches of crust exist. Elsewhere, the caldera is still cooling from previous episodes of flooding. We confirm that Amirani emits constantly large amount of SO2 gas by interaction of fresh lava with the volatiles of the underlying plains. Nevertheless SO2 frost is not the major component of the bright white ring seen in the SSI images. Over the whole Gish Bar region, SO2 frost seems barely stable and is constantly regenerated. The stability increases along gray filamentary structures which could be faults filled with materials having peculiar thermal properties. Northwest of Gish Bar Patera, a localized bright deposit shows an unusual spectral signature potentially indicative of H2O molecules forming ice crystals or being trapped in a nonidentified matrix. The Chaac region may present a thickened old crust reducing the geothermal flux to levels lower than 0.5 W m−2 and thus creating a cold trap for SO2. Looking at the abundance and degree of metamorphose of SO2, we establish the relative age of different flows and ejecta for the Sobo Fluctus. Finally the assumption that the white patches in visible images indicate SO2 rich deposits is once again challenged. In the Camaxtli region we identify a topographically controlled compact white deposit showing only moderate SO2 abundance. In contrast, we detect two spots of quite pure SO2 ice on the gray flanks of Emakong. Furthermore, the close association of fumarolic SO2 and red S2 already noted for several volcanic centers is observed at Tupan. 相似文献
We describe a forward-fitting method that has been developed to reconstruct hard X-ray images of solar flares from the Ramaty
High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), a Fourier imager with rotation-modulated collimators that was launched on
5 February 2002. The forward-fitting method is based on geometric models that represent a spatial map by a superposition of
multiple source structures, which are quantified by circular gaussians (4 parameters per source), elliptical gaussians (6
parameters), or curved ellipticals (7 parameters), designed to characterize real solar flare hard X-ray maps with a minimum
number of geometric elements. We describe and demonstrate the use of the forward-fitting algorithm. We perform some 500 simulations
of rotation-modulated time profiles of the 9 RHESSI detectors, based on single and multiple source structures, and perform
their image reconstruction. We quantify the fidelity of the image reconstruction, as function of photon statistics, and the
accuracy of retrieved source positions, widths, and fluxes. We outline applications for which the forward-fitting code is
most suitable, such as measurements of the energy-dependent altitude of energy loss near the limb, or footpoint separation
during flares.
Supplementary material to this paper is available in electronic form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1022469811115 相似文献
The first comprehensive calibration and mapping of the thermal microwave emission from Titan's surface is reported based on radiometric data obtained at 2.2-cm wavelength by the passive radiometer included in the Cassini Radar instrument. The data reported were accumulated from 69 separate observational segments in Titan passes from Ta (October 2004) through T30 (May 2007) and include emission from 94% of Titan's surface. They are diverse in the key observing parameters of emission angle, polarization, and spatial resolution, and their reduction into calibrated global mosaic maps involved several steps. Analysis of the polarimetry obtained at low to moderate resolution (50+ km) enabled integration of the radiometry into a single mosaic of the equivalent brightness temperature at normal incidence with a relative precision of about 1 K. The Huygens probe measurement of Titan's surface temperature and radiometry obtained on Titan's dune fields allowed us to infer an absolute calibration estimated to be accurate to a level approaching 1 K. The results provide evidence for a surface that is complex and varied on large scales. The radiometry primarily constrains physical properties of the surface, where we see strong evidence for subsurface (volume) scattering as a dominant mechanism that determines the emissivity, with the possibility of a fluffy or graded-density surface layer in many regions. The results are consistent with, but not necessarily definitive of a surface composition resulting from the slow deposition and processing of organic compounds from the atmosphere. 相似文献
The Swedish Deep Drilling Program (SDDP) has been initiated to study fundamental problems of the dynamic Earth system, its natural history and evolution. Many key scientific questions can be addressed through in situ investigations only, requiring deep continental drilling. Some are unique to Scandinavia, most are of international interest and significance. At present, five core projects ( Fig. 1 ) with international teams are integrating scientific problems with societal and industrial applications. If SDDP succeeds to attract the funding required, Sweden will have a number of world‐class boreholes at key locations by 2020. Figure 1 Open in figure viewer PowerPoint Locations of SDDP drilling project proposals. PFDP—Postglacial Fault Drilling Project; PaMVAS—Palaeoproterozoic mineralized volcanic arc systems: the Skellefte District; COSC—Collisional Orogeny in the Scandinavian Caledonides; DRL—The Dellen Impact Crater, a geoscientific deep rock laboratory; SELHO—Svecofennian accretion, an example of the early structural evolution in a large hot orogen; CISP—Concentric Impact Structures in the Palaeozoic: the Lockne and Siljan craters. Background and inset image from Blue Marble Next Generation data set (NASA Earth Observatory, http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/BlueMarble/ ). 相似文献
Coalbed methane has been explored in many basins worldwide for 30 years, and has been developed commercially in some of the basins. Many researchers have described the characteristics of coalbed methane geology and technology systematically. According to these investigations, a coalbed methane reservoir can be defined: "a coal seam that contains some coalbed methane and is isolated from other fluid units is called a coalbed methane reservoir". On the basis of anatomization, analysis, and comparison of the typical coalbed methane reservoirs, coalbed methane reservoirs can be divided into two classes: the hydrodynamic sealing coalbed methane reservoirs and the self-sealing coalbed methane reservoirs. The former can be further divided into two sub-classes: the hydrodynamic capping coalbed methane reservoirs, which can be divided into five types and the hydrodynamic driving coalbed methane reservoirs, which can be divided into three types. The latter can be divided into three types. Currently, hydrodynamic s 相似文献
Thousands of longitudinal dunes have recently been discovered by the Titan Radar Mapper on the surface of Titan. These are found mainly within ±30° of the equator in optically-, near-infrared-, and radar-dark regions, indicating a strong proportion of organics, and cover well over 5% of Titan's surface. Their longitudinal duneform, interactions with topography, and correlation with other aeolian forms indicate a single, dominant wind direction aligned with the dune axis plus lesser, off-axis or seasonally alternating winds. Global compilations of dune orientations reveal the mean wind direction is dominantly eastwards, with regional and local variations where winds are diverted around topographically high features, such as mountain blocks or broad landforms. Global winds may carry sediments from high latitude regions to equatorial regions, where relatively drier conditions prevail, and the particles are reworked into dunes, perhaps on timescales of thousands to tens of thousands of years. On Titan, adequate sediment supply, sufficient wind, and the absence of sediment carriage and trapping by fluids are the dominant factors in the presence of dunes. 相似文献
