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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
New Methods For The Discovery And Characterization Of Lunar Lava Tubes Using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Data, Jonathan Arthur Meyer
New Methods For The Discovery And Characterization Of Lunar Lava Tubes Using Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Data, Jonathan Arthur Meyer
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Lava tubes have the potential to serve as a sustainable solution to long-term lunar habitation by providing protection from radiation and micrometeorite bombardment while potentially providing resources in the form of trapped water ice. They also pose compelling science targets in their own right. While the potential benefits of utilizing lunar lava tubes is clear, their discovery is less straightforward. Formation processes for lava tubes do not always result in a surface expression, making their discovery using remotely sensed imagery difficult. Furthermore, there is the potential for lava tubes to be covered by secondary lava flows, impact ejecta, or other …
Numerical Modeling Of Tectonics And Fault Activity Of Icy Satellites, John Olgin
Numerical Modeling Of Tectonics And Fault Activity Of Icy Satellites, John Olgin
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Enceladus, one of the satellites of Saturn, exhibits evidence of recent fault activity, which may be due to gravitational fluctuations, or tidal stresses, generated by its orbit around Saturn. Recent Cassini spacecraft observations of Enceladus reveal water-ice plume activity at the south polar region, originating from locations that correlate with four geologically young, linear fracture-like features, named the "tiger stripes". It is the goal of this investigation to determine the ideal geophysical and geological factors (e.g., fault depths, frictional coefficients, ice layer thickness, ocean layer thickness, tidal stress sources) that support fault activity on Enceladus. The core of this work …
Characterization Of Thrust Faults On The Moon Using Fault Dynamics And 3d Visualizations, Jaclyn Danielle Clark
Characterization Of Thrust Faults On The Moon Using Fault Dynamics And 3d Visualizations, Jaclyn Danielle Clark
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
Many small, lobate scarps, interpreted to be the surface traces of thrust faults, have been found all over Earth's moon by previous researchers. Fault dynamical calculations, assuming an initially completely molten Moon, have shown that these scarps can form due to compressional stresses that accumulate over time as the result of large-scale contraction of the Moon as it cooled. With high-resolution images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC), previously undetected lobate scarps can be found globally and viewed at high resolution. By investigating these fault scarps, we can determine better constraints on the amount of crustal shortening and improve …
Phreatomagmatic Activity On The Moon: Possibility Of Pseudocraters At Mare Frigoris, Jose Humberto Garcia
Phreatomagmatic Activity On The Moon: Possibility Of Pseudocraters At Mare Frigoris, Jose Humberto Garcia
Open Access Theses & Dissertations
The discovery of water on the Moon raises the possibility that lava-water, or phreatomagmatic, interactions have occurred on the lunar surface in the past. Such interactions may have formed pseudocraters, crater-like landforms that result from steam explosions that occur when lava flows come in contact with surface or near-surface water or ice. We present a study of Mare Frigoris, a volcanic plain just north of the Mare Imbrium impact basin on the Moon. Clusters of irregular, circular features on the basaltic lava flows in this area resemble pseudocrater fields in Iceland, and they are located in a region with inferred …