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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2020

Geomorphological map of the South Belet Region of Titan

Michael J. Malaska
Alice Le Gall

Résumé

We carried out mapping of Titan's South Belet region, which spans the equatorial and mid-latitude region of the moon's southern hemisphere. This mapping work is a continuation of the detailed global mapping effort introduced in Malaska et al. (2016a) and continued on in Lopes et al. (2020). We used Cassini's Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data as our basemap, supplemented by other datasets, following the procedure described in Malaska et al. (2016a) for the Afekan Crater region; hence the four major terrain classes are: craters, hummocky/mountainous, plains, and dunes. Each terrain class was further subdivided into terrain units by characteristic morphology, including border shape, texture, and general appearance; and radar backscatter which is broadly classified as "high", "medium", "low", and in some cases as "variable". There are two terrain units that were not included in previous studies but were identified in our mapping of South Belet: "bright alluvial plains" and "pitted hummocky". Our mapping shows that plains are the dominant class of terrain unit in South Belet, comprising ~ 47.0% of the mapped area. Unlike the Afekan Crater region, the areal extent of the dunes closely rivals the dominance of plains, making up 43.0% of the mapped area. The next most widespread unit by area in the region following the dunes are the mountains/hummocky terrains (10.0%), and finally, crater terrains (0.01%). The introduction of two new units, "bright alluvial plains" and "pitted hummocky", are necessary to capture the full range of morphologies seen in South Belet. However, analysis of our geomorphological mapping results for South Belet is consistent with the narrative of Titan's equatorial and mid-latitudes being dominated by organic materials that have been deposited and emplaced by aeolian activity. This is similarly to the conclusion we arrived at through our mapping and analysis of the Afekan region. Lastly, the applicability of the terrain units from our mapping of the Afekan region to our mapping of South Belet suggests latitudinal symmetry in Titan's surface processes and their evolution.
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Dates et versions

insu-04476805 , version 1 (25-02-2024)

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Ashley M. Schoenfeld, Rosaly M.C. Lopes, Michael J. Malaska, Anezina Solomonidou, David A. Williams, et al.. Geomorphological map of the South Belet Region of Titan. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2020, Dec 2020, Online, United States. pp.abstract #P072-03. ⟨insu-04476805⟩
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