Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Mercury likely started with a faster spin. Solar tides de-spun the planet to its current (59 days) spin rate Ancient global lineament system observed Planet bulges less at the equator when spinning slowly Stresses created when rigid lithosphere readjusts to new shape Orientations of lineaments are a good match to model predictions
Core cools with time Inner core of frozen iron grows Planet shrinks a little Usually not a problem but Mercury has a huge core Mercury shrunk several km in radius Shrinkage compresses the rigid lithosphere Causes thrust faults to form Extensive set of lobate scarps No preferred azimuth Global distribution
Discovery Rupes
Tolstojan
Core shrinks 1-2 km Global system of thrust faults forms lobate scarps Caloris impact structure forms
Antipodal weird terrain Smooth plains form Subsidence and rebound in Caloris basin
Calorian
Mansurian Kuiperian
Soil
Regolith
lunarlandinghoax.com northamericanbigfoot.blogspot.com
earth : the fragmental material composing part of the surface of the globe; especially : cultivable soil - Merriam-Webster dictionary
We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot. - Leonardo da Vinci Mandespite his artistic pretensions, his sophistication, and his many accomplishmentsowes his existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains. - Author Unknown A nation that destroys its soils, destroys itself. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Feb. 26, 1937.
Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations by David Montgomery (UW-ESS)
Earth soil
Lunar Regolith
fine-grained loose particulates coarse-grained fragmental and glassy breccias large blocks
fractured bedrock
Earth soil
Formation Mechanisms
Physical Weathering Freeze/thaw sand-blasting bioturbation (roots & worms) water-driven abrasion breakdown (rivers, waves) glacial scouring/scraping -> loess (very fine grains) Chemical Weathering acid rain dissolving and reprecipitating oxidation
Lunar Regolith
Formation Mechanisms
Why does the moon even have soil with basic structure similar to Earth? Which of these Earth weathering processes could operate on the Moon (or Mercury, Venus, Mars, etc.)? Space Weathering meteorite bombardment high-energy atomic particles and cosmic radiation
Weathering
Weathering
Alaska
Seattle
Amazon
Altiplano
Space Weathering
Micrometeorite bombardment Solar wind / cosmic rays Thermal cycling?
Micrometeorite Bombardment
Kinetic Energy mv2 Impact velocity? On the Moon: 10,000 30,000 m/s
Speed Comparisons
Baseball pitch = 45 m/s Rifle bullet = 1000 m/s Moons orbital speed = 1020 m/s Earths orbital speed = 29,780 m/s Lunar escape velocity = 2380 m/s
Space Weathering
Micrometeorite Bombardment
Comminution (breaking up) particles Agglutination grains get welded together by impact glass Vaporization of material
Heavy material recondenses on nearby grains Volatile material enters atmosphere
Mega-regolith
Acts as an insulating layer and restricts heat flow 2-3km thick under lunar highlands and 1km under maria
Apollo Active Seismic Experiments Terrestrial P-wave velocities for comparison: basaltic ash - 300 m/s Meteor Crater ejecta - 400 m/s pumice - 800-1800 m/s granite - 4000 m/s
Effects of subsurface structure on crater morphology Effects of cratering on surface and subsurface structure
Core samples showed regolith is layered: Apollo 15: 2.42 m deep core contained 42 major textural units No correlation between layers in nearby cores, and each layer well-mixed Impact Gardening Impacts invert local microstratigraphy and produce new ejecta layers New surface layers stirred by micrometeorites Estimated time required to excavate the regolith at least once to a given depth: 9 mm = 10 million years 70 mm = 1 billion years Estimated average accumulation rate over past 3 Gyr: 1.5 m/Gyr Estimated lateral transport: 50% of regolith comes from < 3km away
Laboratory data from impact into basalt (Gault et al., 1963) Possible distribution after prolonged comminution
Solar Wind
A stream of charged particlesa plasmaejected from the upper atmosphere of the sun. It consists mostly of electrons and protons with energies of about 1 keV (velocity = 400 - 750 km/s) 95% ionized hydrogen (protons and electrons), 4% helium, and 1% minor ions, mostly C, N, O, Ne, Mg, Si, and Fe
Too much information (-; eV = electron volt = a unit of energy 1 eV = 1.6E-19 J (Joules) mp = proton mass = 1.66 e-27 kg Kinetic energy = 0.5*mp*v2 = 2.1E-16 J = 1.3 keV
galactic
solar
OMG particle
extra-galactic?
Effects
1 keV
30 nm
implantation of H, He, other rare gases radiation damage (amorphous layers on surface grains) Radionuclide production Physical damage (track production) stable and radioactive isotope production physical damage (track production)
100
mm - cm
cm - m
Effects of space-weathering on surface reflectance spectra Spectral band-depth is reduced (but features still present) Objects get darker and redder with time
Redder doesnt mean more red (necessarily) to a spectroscopist Red is a relative term meaning longer wavelengths So if a surface becomes less reflective at shorter wavelengths, that is called reddening
From http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Aug09/solarwind.helium.html
Reiner Gamma: one of several lunar swirls Albedo features correlated with higher local magnetic fields Possible explanation: Mag. field deflects solar wind particles, reduces surface darkening
Rays of Tycho ejecta High albedo = Young age (less time for space weathering to darken the surface)
Reading Assignment
Prep. For Venus lecture Ch. 7, Sect. 3-4 Ch. 9, Sect. 4-5 (also 1-3 for those who havent taken Intro. Geology) Ch. 11, Sect. 4-7