Exam 2 Flashcards
Mercury Terrain
Heavily cratered, inter-crater plains, scarps, caloris basin, smooth plains, antipodal (opposite side) “weird terrain”
MESSENGER
Visited Mercury, shows huge partly liquid core, maybe ice deposits at poles
Venus Terrain
Highlands and lowlands… was there a giant cataclysm 500 million years ago? or was it resurfaced some other way?
Venus Geological Activities
Volcanoes include shields, domes, and pancakes (different lava viscosity).
No evidence of plate tectonics, but local tectonic features
Venus future exploration
Fly or land, take pictures, sample rocks, look for venus quakes
Mars Terrain
cratered south and volcanic north, Giant canyons (Valles Marineris)
Mars Geological activities
Giant volcanos (Olympus Mons). Tectonic extensions created Valles Marineris.
Mars evidence of past water
rampart craters, dendritic channels, tear-shaped islands, deltas, gullies
Mars atmosphere
early thick atmosphere provided greenhouse, but now it is lost (giant impact? stalled tectonics, or solar wind stripping because mag field left when core froze)
MER
aquatic minerals, multiple stages of wet dry; bluberries
Phoenix
excavated ice under surface, plygon surface shows freeze-thaw cycle
MSL
shows gravel bed (stream beds), conglomerates
Life on Mars
None apparent yet
Where to look for life on other planets
Follow the water, methane gas (possible bio-signature), Look for fossils in hot springs or lakebeds or permafrost
Planetary Protection
Protect mars from earth contamination or vice versa
Comparitive Planetology
- suffered late heavy bombardment,
- early stage of basaltic volcanism,
- smaller planets have cooled and are now geologically dead.
- Maria indistinguishable (moon, mercury, mars)
- venus, earth were similar when life arose
How many worlds orbit the Jovian planets?
more than 170
What makes the jovian moons active?
Tides and orbital resonances