Arbela Sulcus: Cutting Ganymede

This video, based on mosaics obtained during Galileo's 28th orbit of Jupiter, crosses Arbela Sulcus, a narrow lane of bright terrain deep within the ancient cratered terrain of Nicholson Regio on Ganymede. The 4-frame mosaic, at 130 meter resolution, features three major terrain types common to Ganymede. We start over a region of grooved bright terrain, that has been that has been intensely faulted, forming a series of parallel ridges and troughs. The deepest of these troughs or grooves, in the lefthand foreground, is about 600 meters deep. The smaller ridges are typically 100 to 150 meters high. The first large crater is 6 kilometers wide and almost 700 meters deep. As we move forward, the grooved terrain comes to an abrupt end, cut by Arbela Sulcus, which here is 24 kilometers wide. This band of smooth bright terrain is nearly free of faulting and is relatively, though not entirely flat. Subtle fault-lines run parallel to the edges of the band, which most likely formed by the emplacement of now-frozen water lavas across the surface of a downdropped block of older terrain. The video ends over a highly fragmented section of Nicholson Regio proper. This terrain is heavily cratered, very rugged and very ancient. Such terrains cover only approximately 33% of Ganymede today. The narrow troughs are on the order of ~500 m deep and show that parts of ancient dark terrain were heavily fractured without forming bright terrain. The topographic data used to make this video are derived from stereo image analysis, which are not as high in resolution as the final mosaic.

All mosaic, topographic and video products were produced at the Lunar and Planetary Institute by Dr. Paul Schenk, 2009. Visit me at: http://stereomoons.blogspot.com

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Ganymede
• Jupiter
• Galileo
• volcanism
• craters
• tectonics
• faulting
• topography
• stereo
• moons
• planets
• space
• NASA
• LPI