Publications
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The lunar cratering chronology The lunar cratering chronology
This chapter provides an introduction to crater-size frequency distribution (CSFD) measurements and presents a review of the work performed on dating lunar geological units using CSFDs since the last New Views of the Moon volume (2006), including various volcanic and tectonic features, as well as individual impact craters. At the end of the chapter, implications for the new CSFD age...
Authors
Harald Hiesinger, Carolyn Van der Bogert, G. Michael, N. Schmedemann, W. Iqbal, Stuart Robbins, B. Ivanov, J.-P. Williams, M. Zanetti, J. Plescia, Lillian Ostrach, James W. Head III
Lunar mare basaltic volcanism: Volcanic features and emplacement processes Lunar mare basaltic volcanism: Volcanic features and emplacement processes
Volcanism is a fundamental process in the geological evolution of the Moon, providing clues to the composition and structure of the mantle, the location and duration of interior melting, the nature of convection and lunar thermal evolution. Progress in understanding volcanism has been remarkable in the short 60-year span of the Space Age. Before Sputnik 1 in 1957, the lunar farside was...
Authors
James W. Head III, Lionel Wilson, Harald Hiesinger, Carolyn Van der Bogert, Yuan Chen, James Dickson, Lisa Gaddis, Junichi Haruyama, Lauren Jozwiak, Erica Jawin, Chunlai Li, Jianzhong Liu, Tomokatsu Morota, Debra Needham, Lillian Ostrach, Carle Pieters, Tabb Prissel, Yuqi Qian, Lei Qiao, Malcolm Rutherford, David Scott, Jennifer Whitten, Long Xiao, Feng Zhang, Ouyang Ziyuan
Moon-forming impactor as a source of Earth’s basal mantle anomalies Moon-forming impactor as a source of Earth’s basal mantle anomalies
Seismic images of Earth’s interior have revealed two continent-sized anomalies with low seismic velocities, known as the large low-velocity provinces (LLVPs), in the lowermost mantle. The LLVPs are often interpreted as intrinsically dense heterogeneities that are compositionally distinct from the surrounding mantle. Here we show that LLVPs may represent buried relics of Theia mantle...
Authors
Qian Yuan, Mingming Li, Steven Desch, Byeongkwan Ko, Hongping Deng, Edward Garnero, Travis Gabriel, Jacob Kegerreis, Yoshinori Miyazaki, Vincent Eke, Paul Asimow
Relationship between explosive and effusive volcanism in the Montes Apenninus region of the Moon Relationship between explosive and effusive volcanism in the Montes Apenninus region of the Moon
Lunar Pyroclastic Deposits (LPDs) are sites of explosive volcanism and often occur in areas of effusive volcanism on the Moon. On Earth, it has been observed that most volcanism has both effusive and explosive phases, whereas on the Moon, these two types of volcanism have typically been considered separately. We hypothesize that the relationship between explosive and effusive volcanism...
Authors
Lori Pigue, Kristen Bennett, Briony H.N. Horgan, Lisa Gaddis
Analyzing spatial distributions and alignments of pitted cone features in Utopia Planitia on Mars Analyzing spatial distributions and alignments of pitted cone features in Utopia Planitia on Mars
Martian geomorphology and surface features provide links to understanding past geologic processes such as fluid movement, local and regional tectonics, and feature formation mechanisms. Pitted cones are common features in the northern plains basins of Mars. They have been proposed to have formed from upwelling volatile-rich fluids, such as magma or water-sediment slurries. In this study...
Authors
Mackenzie Mills, Alfred McEwen, Amanda Hughes, Ji-Eun Kim, Chris Okubo
The inevitability of large shallow craters on Callisto and Ganymede: Implications for crater depth-diameter trends The inevitability of large shallow craters on Callisto and Ganymede: Implications for crater depth-diameter trends
Complex craters with diameters (D) ≥ 40 km on Callisto and Ganymede are shallower than would be expected from simply extrapolating the depth-diameter trend from smaller (D ≤ 40 km) craters. This unusual depth-diameter (d-D) trend, and associated changes in crater morphology, have been hypothesized to result from rheological transitions, including the existence of an ocean, within the...
Authors
Michael Bland, Veronica Bray
Evidence for fine-grained material at lunar red spots: Insights from thermal infrared and radar data sets Evidence for fine-grained material at lunar red spots: Insights from thermal infrared and radar data sets
Lunar red spots are small spectrally red features that have been proposed to be the result of non-mare volcanism. Studies have shown that a number of red spots are silicic, and are spectrally distinct from both highlands and mare compositions. In this work, we use data from LRO Diviner, Mini-RF, and Arecibo to investigate the material properties of 10 red spots. We create albedo maps...
Authors
Benjamin Byron, Catherine Elder, Timothy Glotch, Paul Hayne, Lori Pigue, Joshua Cahill
Exploring the interior of Europa with the Europa Clipper Exploring the interior of Europa with the Europa Clipper
The Galileo mission to Jupiter revealed that Europa is an ocean world. The Galileo magnetometer experiment in particular provided strong evidence for a salty subsurface ocean beneath the ice shell, likely in contact with the rocky core. Within the ice shell and ocean, a number of tectonic and geodynamic processes may operate today or have operated at some point in the past, including...
Authors
James Roberts, William B. McKinnon, Catherine Elder, Gabriel Tobie, John Biersteker, Duncan Young, Ryan S. Park, Gregor Steinbrugge, Francis Nimmo, Samuel Howell, Julie C. Castillo-Rogez, Morgan Cable, Jacob Abrahams, Michael Bland, Chase Chivers, Corey Cochrane, Andrew Dombard, Carolyn Ernst, Antonio Genova, Christopher Gerekos, Christopher Glein, Camilla Harris, Hamish Hay, Paul Hayne, Matthew Hedman, Hauke Hussmann, Xianzhe Jia, Krishan Khurana, Walter Kiefer, Randolph Kirk, Margaret Kivelson, Justin Lawrence, Erin Leonard, Jonathan Lunine, Erwan Mazarico, Thomas McCord, Alfred McEwen, Carol Paty, Lynnae Quick, Carol Raymond, Kurt Retherford, Lorenz Roth, Abigail Rymer, Joachim Saur, Kirk Scanlan, Dustin Schroeder, David Senske, Wencheng Shao, Krista Soderlund, Elizabeth Spiers, Marshall Styczinski, Paolo Tortora, Steven Vance, Michaela Villarreal, Benjamin Weiss, Joseph Westlake, Paul Withers, Natalie Wolfenbarger, Bonnie Buratti, Haje Korth, Robert Pappalardo, Interior Group
Viscous relaxation of Oort and Edgeworth craters on Pluto: Possible indicators of an epoch of early high heat flow Viscous relaxation of Oort and Edgeworth craters on Pluto: Possible indicators of an epoch of early high heat flow
Impact craters, with their well-defined initial shapes, have proven useful as heat flow probes of a number of icy bodies, provided characteristics of viscous relaxation can be identified. For Pluto's numerous craters, such identifications are hampered/complicated by infilling and erosion by mobile volatile ices, but not in every case. Large craters offer relatively deep probes of...
Authors
W. McKinnon, Michael Bland, K. Singer, P. Schenk, S. Robbins
Mapping planetary bodies Mapping planetary bodies
As the United States and its space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), looks to send humans back to the Moon, many other countries and their space agencies are also sending orbiters, rovers, and sample return missions across the Solar System. We are living in an extraordinary age of planetary exploration, where every mission builds on the decades of...
Authors
Trent Hare
The relation between decadal droughts and eruptions of Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, USA The relation between decadal droughts and eruptions of Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, USA
In the past century, most eruptions of Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park's Norris Geyser Basin were mainly clustered in three episodes: 1961–1969, 1982–1984, and ongoing since 2018. These eruptive episodes resulted in extensive disturbance to surrounding trees. To characterize tree response over time as an indicator of geyser activity adjustments to climate variability...
Authors
Shaul Hurwitz, John C. King, Gregory Pederson, Mara Reed, Lauren Harrison, Jefferson Hungerford, R. Vaughan, Michael Manga
U.S. Geological Survey Rocky Mountain Region 2022 science exchange, showcasing interdisciplinary and state-of-the-art USGS science U.S. Geological Survey Rocky Mountain Region 2022 science exchange, showcasing interdisciplinary and state-of-the-art USGS science
Introduction The Rocky Mountains and the Colorado River Basin in the Western United States represent complex, interconnected systems that sustain a number of species, including tens of millions of humans. These systems face several challenges, including worsening drought, altered wildfire regimes, climate change, and the spread of invasive species. These factors can exacerbate one...
Authors
Dana Peterson, Katherine French, Jeannette Oden, Patrick Anderson, Timothy Titus, Katharine Dahm, Jessica Driscoll, William Andrews
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Mineral Resources Program, Astrogeology Science Center, Central Energy Resources Science Center, Colorado Water Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center