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Full-Text Articles in Tectonics and Structure

Investigating The Thermodynamics And Seismic Profile Of The Europan Hydrosphere Through Pure-Water Modeling And Saltwater Experiments, Samantha Rosenfeld Jun 2022

Investigating The Thermodynamics And Seismic Profile Of The Europan Hydrosphere Through Pure-Water Modeling And Saltwater Experiments, Samantha Rosenfeld

Honors Theses

We explore the properties of the hydrosphere on Europa involving both a modeling technique and experimental methods. We perform a computational analysis of the thermodynamic properties for an ideal, pure-water Europan ice shell using a Python programming framework called SeaFreeze. We create four models assuming surface temperatures of either 50 K or 140 K and ice shell thicknesses of either 3 km or 30 km. We observe mostly linear trends for the density and seismic wave velocities with respect to depth and find that surface temperature has the greatest effect on the models. Simultaneously, we experimentally investigate the phase diagram …


Correlations Between The Rotations And Magnetospheres Of The Terrestrial Planets And The Sun's Formation In Our Solar System, Fred J. Cadieu May 2022

Correlations Between The Rotations And Magnetospheres Of The Terrestrial Planets And The Sun's Formation In Our Solar System, Fred J. Cadieu

Publications and Research

Correlations between the rotations of the terrestrial planets in our solar system and the magnetic field of the Sun have been previously noted. These correlations account for the opposite rotation of Venus as a result of the magnetic field of the Sun being dragged across the conducting core of Venus. Currently the Sun’s magnetic field is not sufficiently strong to account for the proposed correlations. But recently meteorite paleomagnetism measurements have indicated that during the Sun’s formation the magnetic field of the Sun was of sufficient strength to have resulted in the observed correlations. As a part of these correlations …


A Consistent Model Of Terrestrial Planet Magnetospheres And Rotations In Our Solar System, Fred J. Cadieu May 2021

A Consistent Model Of Terrestrial Planet Magnetospheres And Rotations In Our Solar System, Fred J. Cadieu

Publications and Research

The Sun comprises 99.9% of the solar system mass so it is expected that Sun terrestrial planet interactions can influence the motion as well as the rotation of the terrestrial planets.Gravity affects the planet orbital motions while the changing magnetic fields of the Sun can influence the planet rotations. Planets that manifest a magnetic field dominate any weaker magnetic fields from the Sun, but the rotation of terrestrial planets without a magnetic field interacts with the changing Sun’s field dependent on the electrical conductivity of the core region. It is determined that the average planet density becomes a useful quantity …


Quantification Of Surface Roughness Of Lava Flows On Mars, Carolina Rodriguez Sanchez-Vahamonde Dec 2019

Quantification Of Surface Roughness Of Lava Flows On Mars, Carolina Rodriguez Sanchez-Vahamonde

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Volcanism has played a significant role throughout Mars’ geologic history. Extensive lava flows are widely spread across Mars’ equatorial region, shaping the surface in a very distinct way. In radar images (at the decimeter scale), these flows are bright, which is a typical characteristic of extremely rough, blocky lavas flows seen on Earth. Although the source of the extreme roughness of Martian lava flows is unknown, their surface roughness parameters can be constrained to 1) gain information about Mars’ interior processes, 2) find appropriate analogues on other planetary bodies, and 3) ideally infer the emplacement style of such lavas. Here, …


Engaging The Greater Lafayette Community In A Journey Through The Earth Sciences: Purdue’S Eaps Earth Science Passport Day Event, Dara Laczniak, Bradley Garczynski Mar 2019

Engaging The Greater Lafayette Community In A Journey Through The Earth Sciences: Purdue’S Eaps Earth Science Passport Day Event, Dara Laczniak, Bradley Garczynski

Engagement & Service-Learning Summit

No abstract provided.


Discipline-Based Planetary Education Research And Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis Of Mars, Filis Coba Jul 2016

Discipline-Based Planetary Education Research And Computational Fluid Dynamics Analysis Of Mars, Filis Coba

Physics Theses & Dissertations

This thesis originates from the testing and implementation of an IRB-approved interactive animation designed to help students understand what causes The Reasons For The Seasons (RFTS) on Earth. Results from the testing indicated a small improvement in student understanding after exposure to the animation. Next, using the 3-D mapping tool Google Earth, students explored seasons and other planetary features on Mercury, Venus, the Moon and Mars through IRB-approved interactive tours which were developed and tested for astronomy education. Results from the tests indicated that there were statistically significant learning gains (p-value < 0.05) after students interacted with the tours compared to those who did not. The development of the tours inspired a geophysics study of the possibility of former plate motion (or plate tectonics) on Mars. A 2-D finite element convection model for the mantle of Mars was designed and solved using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.1, to investigate whether or not thermal gradients in a Mars-sized planet could cause vigorous upper mantle convection, consistent with plate tectonic processes. Results from this project indicated that stable convection could occur in the interior of a Mars-like planet assuming the presence of sufficiently high thermal gradients at about 0.8 times the mantle temperature of Earth. The convective patterns resembled hot upwelling and cool downwelling which may be similar to subduction-like features. Furthermore, increasing the temperature of the hot boundaries resulted in faster, more rigorous convective motions and a hotter average temperature.


Visualizing And Understanding Tectonism And Volcanism On Earth And Other Terrestrial Bodies, Mladen M. Dordevic Jan 2013

Visualizing And Understanding Tectonism And Volcanism On Earth And Other Terrestrial Bodies, Mladen M. Dordevic

Physics Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation presents new methods of visualizing, teaching, assessing, modeling, and understanding tectonics on Earth and other celestial bodies. Tectonics is the study of planetary lithospheres and includes impact, plate, plume, cryo- and gravitational mechanisms. This dissertation is concerned with plate tectonics and plate/mantle plume interactions. Plate tectonics describes the mainly horizontal motion of lithospheric plates over the asthenosphere. Lithosphere is created at ridges and consumed at subduction zones. In addition to the plate tectonic system, mantle plumes also contribute to mass motions in the subsurface Earth. Both plate tectonics and plume upwelling processes help shape the present form of …


Ua94/6/2/14 Physiography Notebook, Annie Reis Jan 1910

Ua94/6/2/14 Physiography Notebook, Annie Reis

Student/Alumni Personal Papers

Physiography notebook kept by student Annie Reis in 1910. Notebook includes notes and drawings related to physical geography such as solar systems, rivers, faults, weather and glaciers.