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At least 361 records · Page 20
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1997

The Tectonics and Evolution of Venus

This shift corresponded to a focusing of research on Venus. Some work included comparison with other planets. Venus research is being continued. The research can be summarized under five headings: (1) Planet formation; (2) Thermal and Compositional Evolution; (3) Tectonic structures and processes; (4) Determination and interpretation of gravity; and (5) Analyses of Ishtar Terra. Thirty-four publications were produced. References to publications supporting the summary are by year and letter: e.g., (1990 c,d) for the emphasis on the terminal phases in formation studies.

Kaula, William M.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Paleoclimatic and Tectonic History of the Eastern Desert, Egypt and Surroundings

This report covers work for the Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program, which has focused on three areas: analysis of the tectonics and paleoclimatic conditions in north eastern Africa, analysis of surficial geology and damage associated with the 1993 Missouri River floods and rates of lava flow degradation at Lunar Crater volcanic field in Nevada. Work has resulted in several dozen abstracts, several dissertations and a number of papers.

Arvidson, Raymond E.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Plate Tectonism on Early Mars: Diverse Geological and Geophysical Evidence

Mars has been modified by endogenic and exogenic processes similar in many ways to Earth. However, evidence of Mars embryonic development is preserved because of low erosion rates and stagnant lid convective conditions since the Late Noachian. Early plate tectonism can explain such evidence. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Dohm, J. M.↗
NASA NTRS2004

Lunar and Planetary Science XXXV: Mars Tectonism and Volcanism

The session "Mars Tectonism and Volcanism", included the following reports:Structural Attitudes of Large Scale Layering in Valles Marineris, Mars, Calculated from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter Data and Mars Orbiter Camera Imagery; Stratigraphy of Eastern Coprates Chasma, Mars; Temporal Variability in Tharsis Stress State Based on Wrinkle Ridges and Strike-Slip Faulting; State of Stress in the Martian Lithosphere; Displacement-Length Scaling of Faults on Earth, Mars, and Beyond; Topographic Analysis of Quasi-Circular Depressions Around the Utopia Basin, Mars; The Olympus Mons Aureole Deposits: New Evidence for a Flank-failure Origin; Cerberus Fossae and Elysium Planitia Lavas, Mars: Source Vents, Flow Rates, Edifice Styles and Water Interactions; and Topographic Evidence for Eruptive Style Changes and Magma Evolution of Small Plains.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2004

Relief Evolution in Tectonically Active Mountain Ranges

The overall aims of this 3-yr project, as originally proposed were to: (1) investigate quantitatively the roles of fluvial and glacial erosion in the evolution of relief in mountainous regions, and (2) test rigorously the quality and accuracy of SRTM topographic data in areas of rugged relief - both the most challenging and of greatest interest to geomorphic, neotectonic, and hazards applications. Natural laboratories in both the western US and the Southern Alps of New Zealand were identified as most promising. The project has been both successful and productive, despite the fact that no SRTM data for our primary field sites in New Zealand were released on the time frame of the work effort. Given the delayed release of SRTM data, we pursued the scientific questions of the roles of fluvial and, especially, glacial erosion in the evolution of relief in mountainous regions using available digital elevation models (DEMs) for the Southern Alps of New Zealand (available at both 25m and 50m pixel sizes), and USGS 10m and 30m DEMs within the Western US. As emphasized in the original proposal, we chose the emphasis on the role of glacial modification of topographic relief because there has been little quantitative investigation of glacial erosion processes at landscape scale. This is particularly surprising considering the dramatic sculpting of most mid- and high-latitude mountain ranges, the prodigious quantities of glacially-derived sediment in terrestrial and marine basins, and the current cross-disciplinary interest in the role of denudational processes in orogenesis and the evolution of topography in general. Moreover, the evolution of glaciated landscapes is not only a fundamental problem in geomorphology in its own right, but also is at the heart of the debate over Late Cenozoic linkages between climate and tectonics.

Whipple, Kelin X.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Planetary Geophysics and Tectonics

The broad objective of this work is to improve understanding of the internal structures and thermal and stress histories of the solid planets by combining results from analytical and computational modeling, and geophysical data analysis of gravity, topography and tectonic surface structures. During the past year we performed two quite independent studies in the attempt to explain the Mariner 10 magnetic observations of Mercury. In the first we revisited the possibility of crustal remanence by studying the conditions under which one could break symmetry inherent in Runcorn's model of a uniformly magnetized shell to produce a remanent signal with a dipolar form. In the second we applied a thin shell dynamo model to evaluate the range of intensity/structure for which such a planetary configuration can produce a dipole field consistent with Mariner 10 results. In the next full proposal cycle we will: (1) develop numerical and analytical and models of thin shell dynamos to address the possible nature of Mercury s present-day magnetic field and the demise of Mars magnetic field; (2) study the effect of degree-1 mantle convection on a core dynamo as relevant to the early magnetic field of Mars; (3) develop models of how the deep mantles of terrestrial planets are perturbed by large impacts and address the consequences for mantle evolution; (4) study the structure, compensation, state of stress, and viscous relaxation of lunar basins, and address implications for the Moon s state of stress and thermal history by modeling and gravity/topography analysis; and (5) use a three-dimensional viscous relaxation model for a planet with generalized vertical viscosity distribution to study the degree-two components of the Moon's topography and gravity fields to constrain the primordial stress state and spatial heterogeneity of the crust and mantle.

Zuber, Maria↗
NASA NTRS2012

Plate Margin Deformation and Active Tectonics Along the Northern Edge of the Yakutat Terrane in the Saint Elias Orogen, Alaska and Yukon, Canada

The northwest directed motion of the Pacific plate is accompanied by migration and collision of the Yakutat terrane into the cusp of southern Alaska. The nature and magnitude of accretion and translation on upper crustal faults and folds is poorly constrained, however, due to pervasive glaciation. In this study we used high-resolution topography, geodetic imaging, seismic, and geologic data to advance understanding of the transition from strike-slip motion on the Fairweather fault to plate margin deformation on the Bagley fault, which cuts through the upper plate of the collisional suture above the subduction megathrust. The Fairweather fault terminates by oblique-extensional splay faulting within a structural syntaxis, allowing rapid tectonic upwelling of rocks driven by thrust faulting and crustal contraction. Plate motion is partly transferred from the Fairweather to the Bagley fault, which extends 125 km farther west as a dextral shear zone that is partly reactivated by reverse faulting. The Bagley fault dips steeply through the upper plate to intersect the subduction megathrust at depth, forming a narrow fault-bounded crustal sliver in the obliquely convergent plate margin. Since . 20 Ma the Bagley fault has accommodated more than 50 km of dextral shearing and several kilometers of reverse motion along its southern flank during terrane accretion. The fault is considered capable of generating earthquakes because it is linked to faults that generated large historic earthquakes, suitably oriented for reactivation in the contemporary stress field, and locally marked by seismicity. The fault may generate earthquakes of Mw <= 7.5.

Bruhn, Ronald L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Paleomagnetism and Tectonic Interpretations of the Taos Plateau Volcanic Field, Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico

The tectonic response of the Taos Plateau volcanic field in the southern San Luis basin to the late stage extensional environment of the Rio Grande rift was investigated using paleomagnetic techniques. Sixty-two sites (533 samples) of Pliocene volcanic units were collected covering four major rock types with ages of 4.7 to 1.8 Ma. Twenty-two of these sites were from stratigraphic sections of the lower, middle and upper Servilleta Basalt collected in the Rio Grande gorge at two locations 19 km apart. Flows from the lower and middle members in the southern gorge record reversed polarities while those in Garapata Canyon are normal with an excursion event in the middle of the sequence. The uppermost flows of the upper member at both sites display normal directions. Although these sections correlate chemically, they seem to represent different magnetic time periods during the Gilbert Reversed-Polarity Chron...

Matthew P. Golombek↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Gina Crater Area, Venus: Multiple Overlapping Deformation and Volcanic Events Suggest Complex Active Tectonics

A current controversy in the geology of Venus centers on the age(s) of its highlands – the tesserae. One view of Venus’ past is that it experienced a global resurfacing event at 700-800 Myr, now represented mostly by volcanic plains, and that the tesserae represent earlier crust deformed in that event. It is also argued that the resurfacing represents multiple volcanic events over long times. The ancient age of tesserae has recently come into question. Some tesserae include distinct morphologic units that could represent deformed plains material; in other cases it is possible that tesserae are forming today. To address this question, we are mapping a tessera-plains transition around Gina Crater, near Venus’ north pole. Gina is a ~15 km diameter crater at 78.1°N, 76.3°E (Fig. 1), in the Snegurochka (V1) quadrangle. Gina is on the western boundary of the Szél-anya Lineae belt (mapped mostly as tessera), where it abuts a broad area of regional volcanic plains. The area is complex, with evidence for multiple episodes of tectonism and volcanism and was specifically chosen to help constrain the timing of deformation events relative to those of volcanic emplacement.

Emily K Roberts↗