Presentation Transcript
What do we mean by “tectonics?”: What do we mean by “tectonics?” Movement of a planet’s surface Movement = ???
What Drives Tectonics?: What Drives Tectonics?
What Drives Tectonics?: What Drives Tectonics?
Types of Movement: Types of Movement
Types of Movement: Types of Movement
Types of Movement: Types of Movement
Slide9: Mercury Geologically inactive (3.7 Ga)
Features resulting from compressive forces
Slide10: Venus Possibly geologically active
Volcanoes = heat loss
Lava flows (craters young)
Thick crust; convecting mantle
Wrinkle ridges, extensional zones
Slide11: Alpha Regio
Tesserae - highly deformed older terrain (< 1 Ga)
More cratered
Embayed by lava flows
Slide12: Maat Mons – 8 km high,
Aphrodite Terra Region
Slide13: Mars Probably geologically active
Volcanoes = heat loss
Thick crust; convecting mantle
Wrinkle ridges, extensional zones - BIG
Slide14: Olympus Mons
24 km high
550-600 km across
Thick crust!
Mars: Mars dfldjfkdkfj
Volcanoes on Mars: Volcanoes on Mars http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/planet_volcano/mars/Overview.html
Martian Volcanoes: Martian Volcanoes Less gravitational pull; volcanoes larger before collapsing under own weight
Hot spots and crust are stationary
Slide18: It’s still all about heat loss!
Slide19: Heat from Impacts, differentiation, radioactive decay
Differentiation of layers
Continued differentiation - volcanism, tectonism
All are differentiated
All have been cooling – unique signature
Moon and Mercury – solid core; geologically inactive; conduction
Mars and Venus – solid core; geologically active; convection in mantle
Earth ….