RANDY L. PHELPS

This is the Planetary Surfaces Module

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Procedure

1.  For this module, please look through the "lecture" notes for "Planetary Surfaces - Inner Planets" and "Planetary Surfaces - Outer Planets"  These notes contain the material, in condensed form, that I will expect you to become familiar with.  I am sure you will have questions about the material, especially since it is presented in the form of lecture notes.  To help you fill in the blanks, I have added web links below to gain further insight into select portions of the material. 

2. Web-links you should investigate:

Upon completing this assignment, you should be comfortable with the following material:

• The interesting surface features of each planet and major satellite in the Solar System, and what these features tell us about the history of each planet or moon.

Upon completing this assignment, you should be able to answer these, and similar questions

General Concepts

• Which planet(s) in the inner Solar System show(s) evidence for plate tectonics?
• What is the significance of a midocean ridge on the Earth?
• What is the significance of a subduction zone?
• What is the lunar regolith?
• Which are older, the lunar highlands, or the lunar maria and how do we know?
• What are intercrater plains on Mercury and how did they form?
• What are scarps on Mercury, and how did they form?
• What is the Caloris Impact Basin on Mercury?
• What geologic features appear in abundance on Venus?
• Why are most color "images" of the surface of Venus, obtained by radar, orangish-red in color?
• Does Venus have high mountain ranges, or a nearly uniform surface?
• What is the Tharsis Region on Mars?
• What is the tallest volcano in the Solar System, and what are some of its characteristics?
• What is Valles Marineris, and what are its characteristics?
• What evidence suggests that Mars once had abundant water on its surface?
• What moons in the outer Solar System have actice volcanoes/geysers?
• What moon in the outer Solar system is thought to have the most substantial ocean of water?
• Describe how sulfur in its various states can explain the colors found on Io.
• Which moon of Saturn resembles the "Death Star" from Star Wars?
• Which moon of Saturn has a surface that suggests externally deposited material?
• Which moon of Saturn has a thicj atmosphere, precluding photographs, from space, of its surface?
• Why is Miranda and interesting satellite?

Applications

• Based on the fact that Earth undergoes plate tectonics, what can be said about the Earth's interior?
• Based on the ages of the lunar highlands and lunar maria, what can be said about the history of the lunar surface?
• What are the pieces of information that allow us to understand the history of Mercury?   What does this information tell us about Mercury's history?
• Describe how radar can be used to construct "images" of a planetary surface, and what advantage radar data has over a standard photograph of the surface.
• Volcanoes appear in abundance on Venus, but Venus does not have a magnetic field.  How can one reconcile these observations?
• What evidence suggests that Venus does not have plate tectonics?
• A spacecraft takes an image of the surface of a Solar System object, and finds a heavily cratered region with several dark craters, and several lightly colored craters.  Which of the craters are likely to have been formed most recently, and why?
• What does Olympus Mons tell us about plate tectonics on Mars?
• The rotation period of Mars is about 24 hours, and it has numerous volcanoes on its surface.  Mars does not have a substantial magnetic field.   What do these observations suggest about its interior, both at the present, and in the past?
• Given the "condensation theory" for the origin of planets and satellites, what might one expect the moons of the outer Solar System to be like?
• Io is a unique moon in the Jovian system.  What causes it to have such a different composition compared to the other Galilean satellites?
• Io is a small satellite, and yet the plumes from its volcanoes reach very high altitudes.  Why might this be?
• As one moves from Io to the Galilean satellites that are more distant from Jupiter, the surfaces of the satellites reveal more craters.  What is a likely explanation for this observation?
• Miranda has a very chaotic surface.  What might have happened to this moon in its past?
• The best photos of Pluto reveal it to be similar to Triton.  Using other information regarding Pluto, describe a possible history for Pluto itself.

These questions, and similar ones, will form the basis of  the exam material for this section of the course.  If you have problems with the material, please see me.   If you are unable to answer some of the questions, I will help you before the date specified on the syllabus, provided you show me the results of your inquiry into the material.

That is, you must provide me the answers you we able to obtain for all questions, including your attempts at problem questions, before I will help you with any of them!   

In other words, for me to provide you with help with the questions, you must show me that you have undertaken a good-faith-effort to find the answers yourself, in a timely manner.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________