vertical wind distribution in the polar thermosphere during horizontal e region experiment hex campaign 1 vertical winds in the thermosphere were measured with two fabry perot interferometers at the poker flat research range pfrr and eagle observatory alaska during the horizontal e region experiment hex campaign feburary and march 2003 since these two observatories have almost the same geomagnetic latitude we could deduce vertical wind distributions along the same auroral arc the oi557 7 nm and oi630 0 nm emissions were separated using a dichroic mirror which enabled us to estimate temporal variations in vertical winds in the e and f regions simultaneously to measure the optical auroral distribution we used all sky imagers at the pfrr we had 13 clear nights out of a total of 23 we obtained the following results from the observations 1 the temporal variations in vertical wind observed at oi557 7 nm at the two observatories had a high degree of correlation despite being 300 km apart the correlation coefficients exceeded 0 6 on six of the 13 nights the chance of exceeding a correlation coefficient of 0 6 on an individual night is about 0 1 2 the correlation was relatively low in the oi630 0 nm observation 3 some low correlation cases for both wavelengths indicated that the location of the auroral arc with respect to the observatory was different for the two sites namely whether the auroral arc was poleward or equatorward of the observational area these results suggest that the vertical wind structures along one auroral arc are uniform at least 300 km apart this wind distribution was consistent with previous works in most cases but some exceptions were also found

global variations of thermospheric winds and temperatures caused by substorm energy injection two numerical simulations of the thermospheric response to magnetospheric energy injection have been performed using a zonally averaged time dependent model of neutral composition dynamics and energy budget the simulations are distinguished by the duration of the source the first simulation has an energy injection of 1 hour representative of substorm type forcing and the second one has a 12 hour energy injection representative of main storm type forcing they were performed under the condition of equinox at solar minimum in the first simulation large scale atmospheric gravity waves agws generated by the substorm energy via joule heating of ionospheric currents are clearly identified in the wind field in a meridional plane as well as in the temporal and spacial variations of the total energy density of air above about 130 km height these waves reach the equator after about 3 hours and propagate into the opposite hemisphere the horizontal propagation speed is close to the speed of sound for example roughly 440 m s at about 150 km altitude and 670 m s at about 260 km altitude snapshots of the wind system affected by the substorm energy injection show a four cell pattern between the poles above 260 km the cells have the opposite rotational direction to those below these small scale features in the wind system are indicative of the internal atmospheric gravity waves with the vertical phase propagation from a term analysis of the energy conservation equation it is identified that the dominant energy process associated with the propagation of agws is adiabatic compressional heating and or expansive cooling process it can be concluded that the energy oscillations at middle and low latitude are mainly produced by agws propagating from high latitude during the substorm the second simulation indicated that horizontal and vertical advections vertical heat conduction and infrared radiative cooling by nitric oxide are important in addition to adiabatic compressional heating and or expansive cooling it is suggested that short duration energy injection preferentially generates agws which dominate the energy oscillations at low latitudes through adiabatic heating and cooling long duration energy injection is more effective in generating a meridional circulation which transfers energy by both advective and adiabatic processes

observations of thermospheric horizontal neutral winds at watson lake yukon territory λ 65 n fabry perot interferometer observations of the thermospheric o i 6300 a emission have been conducted from an airglow observatory at a dark field site in the southeastern yukon territory canada for the period november 1991 to april 1993 the experiment operated in an unattended remote fashion has resulted in a substantial data set from which mean neutral winds have been determined dependent upon geomagnetic activity the nocturnal location of the site is either equatorward of the auroral oval or within the oval boundaries the data set is rich enough to permit hourly binning of neutral winds based upon the kp geomagnetic disturbance index as well as the season for cases of low geomagnetic activity the averaged vector horizontal neutral wind exhibits the characteristics of a midlatitude site displaying antisunward pressure gradient driven winds as the geomagnetic activity rises the late afternoon and evening winds slowly rotate sunward in an anticlockwise direction initially remaining near 100 m s in speed but eventually increasing to 300 m s for kp 5 for the higher levels of activity the observed neutral wind flow pattern resembles a higher latitude polar cap pattern characterized by ion drag forcing of thermospheric neutral gases in addition rotational coriolis forcing on the dusk side enhances the ion drag forcing resulting in dusk winds which trace out the clockwise dusk cell plasma flow on the dawn side the neutral winds also rotate in an anticlockwise direction as the strength of geomagnetic disturbances increase since the site is located at a transition latitude between the midlatitude and the polar cap the data set provides a sensitive test for general circulation models which attempt to parameterize the contribution of magnetospheric processes a comparison with the vector spherical harmonic vsh model indicates several regions of poor correspondence for december solstice conditions but reasonable agreement for the vernal equinox

sequential deformation of plains at the margins of alpha regio venus implications for tessera formation abstract the boundaries between the highly deformed tessera terrain and adjacent volcanic plains are primarily those of embayment where the tessera are stratigraphically older than the plains previous studies show that 3 of these boundaries display evidence of tectonic tilting after the emplacement of the plains one of these unusual boundaries is the western margin of alpha regio tessera a zone 100 km in width that separates the plains from the interior structures of alpha this zone is characterized by margin parallel fine scale 1 5 km fractures graben and ridges that truncate and postdate the broad scale 10 30 km ridges and troughs of the interior of alpha the western margin is embayed by several volcanic plains units that are progressively tilted and deformed by graben with closer proximity to alpha regio the earliest deformation of the plains consists of northeast trending graben 1 km in width that are similar in morphology and spacing to graben that deform intratessera plains and plains at the eastern boundary of alpha northwest trending graben then formed over an interval marked by the emplacement of two additional plains units their similarity to northwest trending structures emanating from eve corona and the lada terra rift suggests a possible genetic relationship the tilting of the plains adjacent to western alpha implies relative vertical movement of the margin either uplift of tessera or downwarping of plains subsequent to the formation and relaxation of the interior of alpha regio subsidence of plains at this locale is supported by the presence of a basin to the west of alpha surrounded by a fracture belt contiguous with western alpha thus the fractures and deformation at the western boundary of alpha may be related to the formation of a basin to the west of alpha with some influence from the northernmost extension of the lada terra rift such a basin is not present at a section along the eastern boundary of alpha regio where the origin of tilted plains remains equivocal we conclude that the deformation along the western margin of alpha regio is not directly related to the process of tessera formation but is an example of tessera modification and is consistent with the stratigraphic position of tessera as the oldest unit observed on venus

climatology and latitudinal gradients of quiet time thermospheric neutral winds over millstone hill from fabry perot interferometer measurements 1 midlatitude nighttime thermospheric neutral winds are strongly dependent on season solar activity and latitude we use an extensive database of wind measurements made during 1989 2001 by the millstone hill fabry perot interferometer to study the detailed climatology of quiet time neutral winds near an altitude of 250 km to facilitate the analysis of these data we develop a local time day of year solar flux and latitude dependent empirical model with the latitude dependence obtained by considering north looking and south looking observations separately our results show that the zonal winds are predominantly eastward after dusk and westward before dawn with the strongest eastward winds occurring in the winter and with an east to west transition that occurs earliest in the summer the zonal winds exhibit weak to moderate latitudinal gradients with more westward values to the north the zonal wind magnitudes decrease with increasing solar flux the strongest trends occur during winter the meridional winds are predominantly equatorward in all cases and exhibit strong latitudinal gradients with larger values to the north the maximum nighttime equatorward winds decrease with increasing solar flux except during summer when there is no significant solar activity variation they are largest during the summer except at solar minimum when a semiannual variation is observed and the peak winds occur during the equinoxes earlier studies of midlatitude wind measurements are generally consistent with our data with our results providing a considerably more detailed description of the nighttime wind climatology at midlatitudes

venus tectonics an overview of magellan observations the nearly global radar imaging and altimetry measurements of the surface of venus obtained by the magellan spacecraft have revealed that deformational features of a wide variety of styles and spatial scales are nearly ubiquitous on the planet many areas of venus record a superposition of different episodes of deformation and volcanism this deformation is manifested both in areally distributed strain of modest magnitude such as families of graben and wrinkle ridges at a few to a few tens of kilometers spacing in many plains regions as well as in zones of concentrated lithospheric extension and shortening the common coherence of strain patterns over hundreds of kilometers implies that even many local features reflect a crustal response to mantle dynamic processes ridge belts and mountain belts which have characteristic widths and spacings of hundreds of kilometers represent successive degrees of lithospheric shortening and crustal thickening the mountain belts of venus as on earth show widespread evidence for lateral extension both during and following active crustal compression venus displays two principal geometrical variations on lithospheric extension the quasi circular coronae 75 2600 km diameter and broad rises with linear rift zones having dimensions of hundreds to thousands of kilometers both are sites of significant volcanic flux but horizontal displacements may be limited to only a few tens of kilometers few large offset strike slip faults have been observed but limited local horizontal shear is accommodated across many zones of crustal stretching or shortening several large scale tectonic features have extremely steep topographic slopes in excess of 20 30 over a 10 km horizontal scale because of the tendency for such slopes to relax by ductile flow in the middle to lower crust such regions are likely to be tectonically active in general the preserved record of global tectonics of venus does not resemble oceanic plate tectonics on earth wherein large rigid plates are separated by narrow zones of deformation along plate boundaries rather tectonic strain on venus typically involves deformation distributed across broad zones tens to a few hundred kilometers wide separated by comparatively undeformed blocks having dimensions of hundreds of kilometers these characteristics are shared with actively deforming continental regions on earth the styles and scales of tectonic deformation on venus may be consequences of three differences from the earth 1 the absence of a hydrological cycle and significant erosion dictates that multiple episodes of deformation are typically well preserved 2 a high surface temperature and thus a significantly shallower onset of ductile behavior in the middle to lower crust gives rise to a rich spectrum of smaller scale deformational features 3 a strong coupling of mantle convection to the upper mantle portion of the lithosphere probably because venus lacks a mantle low viscosity zone leads to crustal stress fields that are coherent over large distances the lack of a global system of tectonic plates on venus is likely a combined consequence of a generally lesser strength and more limited horizontal mobility of the lithosphere than on earth

morphological features of shear formed fractures developed in a rock bridge abstract rock bridges are commonly encountered in incipiently jointed rock masses and the problem of their failure has a significant influence on the safety of involved engineering practices although many research have been conducted to look into the geometrical or mechanical properties of rock bridges before failure the properties of them after failure have rarely been investigated in this study we carried out an investigation on the morphological features of newly formed fractures developed in a rock bridge the influence of the applied normal stress and the joint persistence on the fracture morphology was systematically examined in terms of failure mechanism and grasselli s model the research results demonstrated that the development of the fractures in a rock bridge can be attributed to tensile failure mechanism or shear failure mechanism it was found that the tensile failure mechanism produces more curvilinear and rougher fractures than the shear failure mechanism moreover the fractures developed in a rock bridge were anisotropic with asymmetric asperities along the shearing plane i e maximum possible contact area a0 is less than 0 5 which is considerably distinguished from that developed in an intact rock through splitting the present study would promote our knowledge of rock bridges and contribute to the development of shear strength criterions

venus southern hemisphere geologic character and age of terrains in the themis alpha lada region arecibo high resolution radar images of the southern hemisphere of venus extending to 78 s show that the surface of the themis alpha lada region is characterized by linear deformation zones with volcanoes and corona like features and by regional volcanic deposits primarily plains small shields and large edifices large scale areal deformation is limited to the tessera of alpha regio lada terra in the southern high latitudes contains several large coronae in contrast to ishtar terra in the northern high latitudes the density of craters of possible impact origin is somewhat lower than that observed in the venera 15 and 16 coverage these data extend to 43 percent of the areas of the surface of venus with ages of less than about 1 billion years

mantle flow tectonics the influence of a ductile lower crust and implications for the formation of topographic uplands on venus convective flow within the interiors of terrestrial planets is a primary source of large scale topographic and tectonic features we treat the crust and mantle as a layered viscous half space and find solutions for flow driven by a buoyancy force distribution within the mantle and by relief at the surface and crust mantle boundary the crust initially responds to mantle upwelling with uplift but continued flow causes significant crustal thinning and subsidence downwelling leads to initial subsidence and subsequent crustal thickening and surface uplift changes in crustal thickness are driven by 1 vertical normal stresses due to mantle flow and 2 shear coupling of horizontal mantle flow into the crust the degree and time scale of crustal deformation are sensitive to crustal thickness and viscosity and the presence of elastic layers in the upper crust and mantle deformation can occur on time scales less than several hundred million years for reasonable values of these parameters strong or elastic upper crustal layers enhance crustal thinning or thickening while large viscosity contrasts between the lower crust and upper mantle or elastic mantle layers tend to diminish deformation for time dependent mantle flow due to a rising or sinking diapiric body crustal deformation depends upon the ratio of diapir radius to crustal thickness and the ratio of crustal to mantle viscosity a sinking diapir can lead to crustal thickening elevated topography and a specific sequence of time varying deformation while regions such as beta regio have long been suggested to result from convective upwelling in the venus mantle we suggest that a mantle downwelling origin is consistent with many of the characteristics of the compressional mountain ranges of western ishtar terra

coronae on venus morphology classification and distribution abstract two major types of circular features with no direct morphologic analog on the terrestrial planets were identified in venera 15 16 radar images of venus coronae and corona like features coronae are irregular to circular structures characterized by a complex interior zone and maximum widths of 170 690 km corona like features resemble coronae but lack an annulus of ridges twenty one structures that fit the definition of coronae have been identified in venera 15 16 coverage along with eleven corona like features each group has been subdivided into three classes based on general morphology symmetrical coronae are characterized by circular to oval form with interiors characterized by flows domes and tectonic ridges asymmetrical coronae have similar morphology but have only a partial annulus or are asymmetrical about a central axis subdued coronae are dominated by smooth plains with flooded and embayed annuli double corona like structures are composed of two linked rings and are found along ridge belts in the region east of atalanta planitia irregular corona like features are surrounded by a rim rather than an annulus as are the double structures and are very subdued in appearance heart shaped corona like features are rounded at one end and form a wedge at the other end we interpret the classes of coronae and corona like features to have a similar mode of origin with differences in morphology due to the stage of evolution and or varying amounts and significance of geologic processes i e tectonism volcanism gravitational relaxation that occur during their evolution corona evolution is characterized by early uplift and volcanism followed by annulus formation formation of a peripheral trough may occur in the middle to late stages of corona evolution followed by extensive volcanism and lowering of topographic relief both coronae and corona like features are interpreted to have formed as a result of uplift and volcanism caused by a thermal anomaly at depth followed by gravitational relaxation

mechanical response of the south flank of kilauea volcano hawaii to intrusive events along the rift systems abstract increased earthquake activity and compression of the south flank of kilauea volcano hawaii have been recognized by previous investigators to accompany rift intrusions we further detail the temporal and spatial changes in earthquake rates and ground strain along the south flank induced by six major rift intrusions which occurred between december 1971 and january 1981 the seismic response of the south flank to individual rift intrusions is immediate the increased rate of earthquake activity lasts from 1 to 4 weeks horizontal strain measurements indicate that compression of the south flank usually accompanies rift intrusions and eruptions emplacement of an intrusion at a depth greater than about 4 km such as the june 1982 southwest rift intrusion however results in a slight extension of the subaerial portion of the south flank horizontal strain measurements along the south flank are used to locate the january 1983 east rift intrusion which resulted in eruptive activity the intrusion is modeled as a vertical rectangular sheet with constant displacement perpendicular to the plane of the sheet this model suggests that the intrusive body that compressed the south flank in january 1983 extended from the surface to about 2 4 km depth and was aligned along a strike of n66 e the intrusion is approximately 11 km in length extended beyond the january 1983 eruptive fissures which are 8 km in length and is contained within the 14 km long region of shallow rift earthquakes

regional topographic rises on venus geology of western eistla regio and comparison to beta regio and atla regio regional topographic rises in the equatorial region of venus western eistla regio beta regio and atla regio form a unique class of structures which on the basis of geologic mapping and geophysical data are interpreted to be sites of mantle upwelling or plumes the geologically least complex of these regions is western eistla regio an elongated domical rise that contains the volcanoes sif and gula montes sif mons is a large volcano diameter 100 km whose local stratigraphy indicates that it has undergone a history marked by initial radial fracturing widespread outpouring of lava additional fracturing along its northern flank and extrusion of lava that is either extremely fluid or was erupted at a high rate of effusion sif contains a 40 km diameter summit caldera within which are nested smaller calderas and pit structures theoretical considerations suggest multiple levels of magma emplacement within the volcano with the primary reservoir residing in the crust below the edifice gula mons is made up of multiple volcanic source regions and is associated with guor linea a zone of lithospheric stretching faulting and rifting the geologically complex highland of beta regio is a tectonic junction with three arms of devana chasma intersecting at theia mons magellan data reveal 1 the details of rifting and volcanism concentrated at theia mons 2 that rhea mons is highly deformed and possesses characteristics of tesserae and whose origin as a volcano is placed in question 3 that tesserae are a major unit arrayed in a pattern around theia from east to west starting on the eastern flank of beta and continuing westward to the northern part of asteria regio 4 that the northern periphery of the highland contains coronae connected by fractures forming chains and 5 the presence of a deformed crater within devana chasma split and extended in an east west direction indicating that part of the rift has undergone as much as 20 30 extension like beta atla regio is a complex area of converging rifts five separate arms that are centered on the volcano ozza mons the magellan images show that volcanism and rifting have occurred contemporaneously at ozza with lava flows both covering and being crosscut by faults a second volcano maat mons contributes to the infilling of the rift dali chasma and does not appear to be deformed by faulting two of the rifts at atla contain chains of coronae suggesting that upwelling along linear zones of extension has occurred beta atla and western eistla are similar in that they are broad regional rises are associated with major rift zones have large apparent depths of isostatic compensation and contain large volcanoes their associations with features mapped as coronae and tesserae are quite variable suggesting that the detailed characteristics of the individual highlands are most likely linked to each areas local geologic environment

mylitta fluctus venus rift related centralized volcanism and the emplacement of large volume flow units mylitta fluctus is a volcanic flow field that covers approximately 300 000 km2 in southern lavinia planitia the flows are typically radar bright with uniform surface textures central channels are common maximum flow lengths range from 400 to 1000 km flow widths range 30 100 km in the medial and distal portions of the flow field the total volume of the flow field based on estimates of flow thickness is of the order of 2 104 km3 the flow field is composed of six smaller flow fields that are interpreted to represent major eruption events in the evolution of mylitta an asymmetric shield volcano 200 km in radius with a central caldera has been identified as the single major source it is located along a possible rift zone at the northern edge of lada terra no evidence for fissure fed eruptions is observed although eruptions may have occurred along fissures within the rift before the main vent centralized mylitta is similar in scale to many terrestrial flood basalt provinces although it is lower in total estimated volume and is distinguished by the presence of a central source edifice the origin of mylitta is proposed to be linked to regional extension and possible hotspot activity in a manner similar to that suggested for the origin of terrestrial flood basalts the lower apparent volume of mylitta relative to terrestrial flood basalts suggests that the amount of material upwelling from the mantle may have been lower in this case or that the formation of the flow field has not yet finished detailed studies of the morphology and distribution of flow fields similar to mylitta should yield insight into the variation and evolution of hotspot related volcanism and the formation of possible flood basalts on venus

spatial evolution of frictional heating and the predicted thermospheric wind effects in the vicinity of an auroral arc measured with the sondrestrom incoherent scatter radar and the reimei satellite 1 simultaneous observation with the sondrestrom incoherent scatter is radar and the reimei satellite was conducted on 3 october 2007 the objective was to measure horizontal patterns of the ionospheric structure in the vicinity of an auroral arc the is radar was scanned azimuthally with a fixed elevation angle and the satellite narrow view camera 557 7 nm was directed downward taking pictures every 0 12 s a stationary auroral arc was captured at 05 17 ut 02 54 mlt with both instruments simultaneously gross ionospheric features measured with the is radar around the arc were in good agreement with the expected magnetosphere ionosphere current system of particular interest was the horizontal pattern in the ion speed and temperature in the f region the ion speed within the arc was close to zero by contrast the larger ion speed 350 400 m s 1 on the poleward side was parallel to the arc and almost no horizontal shear within about 20 km width perpendicular to the arc this area was separated into two parts by the ion temperature one was associated with clear enhancements in excess of 1200 k and another was with more moderate enhancements less than 1000 k the widths of the two areas were approximately 10 km each the horizontal shear seen in the ion temperature suggested the presence of a narrow thermospheric wind shear of about 10 km width this paper suggests that the possible cause for the thermospheric wind shear was ion drag associated with localized soft particle precipitation or f region ionization

plains tectonism on venus the deformation belts of lavinia planitia high resolution radar images from the magellan spacecraft have revealed the first details of the morphology of the lavinia planitia region of venus a number of geologic units can be distinguished including volcanic plains units with a range of ages transecting these plains over much of the lavinia region are two types of generally orthogonal features that we interpret to be compressional wrinkle ridges and extensional grooves the dominant tectonic features of lavinia are broad elevated belts of intense deformation that transect the plains with complex geometry they are many tens to a few hundred kilometers wide as much as 1000 km long and elevated hundreds of meters above the surrounding plains two classes of deformation belts are seen in the lavinia region ridge belts are composed of parallel ridges each a few hundred meters in elevation that we interpret to be folds typical fold spacings are 5 10 km fracture belts are dominated instead by intense faulting with faults in some instances paired to form narrow grabens there is also some evidence for modest amounts of horizontal shear distributed across both ridge and fracture belts crosscutting relationships among the belts show there to be a range in belt ages in western lavinia in particular many ridge and fracture belts appear to bear a relationship to the much smaller wrinkle ridges and grooves on the surrounding plains ridge morphology tends to dominate belts that lie more nearly parallel to local plains wrinkle ridges and fracture morphology tends to dominate belts that lie more nearly parallel to local plains grooves we use simple models to explore the formation of ridge and fracture belts we show that convective motions in the mantle can couple to the crust to cause horizontal stresses of a magnitude sufficient to induce the formation of deformation belts like those observed in lavinia we also use the small scale wavelengths of deformation observed within individual ridge belts to place an approximate lower limit on the venusian thermal gradient in the lavinia region at the time of deformation

shear behaviors of real natural un matching joints of granite with equivalent joint roughness coefficients abstract contact planes of a natural unfilled rock joint often portray dissimilar roughness characteristics particularly at shallow depth some researchers investigated shear strength behaviors of un matching joints i e joints with dissimilar surface morphologies through laboratory experiments using mimicked discontinuities this study aimed to explore shear behaviors of real natural un matching joints with similar averaged joint roughness coefficients jrcs in the singhbhum granite india based on laboratory investigations direct shear tests were performed on a total of 18 encapsulated jointed samples split into three groups under a three different low normal stresses 0 70 mpa with increasing values b three different high normal stresses within a range of 0 98 1 99 mpa with increasing values and c one particular intermediate normal stress 0 99 mpa for five times where direction of shearing was kept same as the dip direction of the joints in situ shear behaviors of the investigated joints portray diverse patterns moreover most of the obtained behavioral patterns look different from the typical shear stress shear displacement graph in the literature that are based on direct shear test results in case of matching rock discontinuities influence of surface morphology on shear behavior shear stress fluctuations with displacement variation of jrc values with the increase in normal stresses and observations on peak friction angle were critically analyzed effect of cycles of shearing on shear strength was also examined plausible reasons behind the uniqueness of the results were explained

dating volcanism and rifting on venus using impact crater densities although the distribution of impact craters on venus is indistinguishable from a completely spatially random population on the basis of crater data alone the addition of geologic information indicates that the craters are not random with respect to geology areas of low crater density correlate with concentrations of tectonic and volcanic features as well as high proportions of faulted and embayed craters high resolution mapping of large volcanoes flood type lava flow fields rifts and coronae shows that these features have low crater densities that are unlikely to have occurred merely by chance because these features also appear young based on stratigraphic data difference in age is the most likely reason for differences in crater density between geologically defined terrains crater densities may be used to determine reliable relative ages for sufficiently large geologic terrains containing at least eight to nine craters as long as the mapping criteria are independent of impact crater locations this result provides a tool to begin identifying and dating major geologic provinces and to begin developing a geologic history of venus using a simple data model and calculating crater ages relative to an assumed global mean age of 300 ma we show that the ages of large volcanoes 72 45 ma flow fields 128 91 ma rifts 130 145 ma and coronae 120 115 ma are all substantially younger than the mean plains age and probably represent ongoing volcanic and tectonic activity rather than the end of a brief global resurfacing event with a mean age of 300 ma

global distribution and characteristics of coronae and related features on venus implications for origin and relation to mantle processes coronae on venus range from 60 to over 2000 km across and are characterized by a complex range of morphologies the annuli around coronae range from about 10 to 150 km across and have tectonic features ranging from extensional to compressional to a combination of both topographically coronae are domes plateaus plateaus with interior lows and rimmed depressions a subset of features classified here as coronae corresponds to depressions and is interpreted to consist of large scale calderas a number of features have been identified with many of the basic characteristics of coronae similar interior deformation associations with volcanism high topography but lacking a distinct tectonic annulus these features tend to be somewhat smaller than coronae and may represent failed coronae or coronae in an early stage of evolution the size distribution of coronae and coronalike features with maximum widths greater than about 250 km is well represented by a power law of the form n d kd where n is the number of coronae with maximum widths greater than d km and 3 05 the spatial distribution of coronae is not random the features are concentrated in a few groups and along several chains coronae are similar in many morphologic characteristics to major volcanic shield structures and volcanic rises such as western eistla regio the largest corona artemis is actually larger than several volcanic rises on venus coronae and volcanic rises appear to be surface manifestations of mantle plumes there is no evidence of any systematic variation in age along chains of coronae as occurs in hotspot chains on earth instead a number of multiple and overlapping coronae may indicate limited movement of the surface above a hotspot or mantle plume the morphology and size distribution of coronae highlands and major shields suggest that mantle upwelling on venus operates either on several spatial scales with coronae representing smaller scale upflows and major volcanic rises representing larger convective upwellings or on several temporal scales with coronae representing shorter duration upflows and major volcanic rises representing long term upwellings

corona structures on venus models of origin coronae on venus are circular to elongate structures with maximum widths of 150 1000 km characterized by annuli of concentric ridges surrounding complex interiors the features have raised topography relative to the surroundings they are associated with volcanic activity and most are partially surrounded by a peripheral trough variations in morphology between individual coronae are due to differences in their stage of evolution and or differences in the relative significance of the geologic processes that occur in each stage we examine models for three processes that may be involved in corona origin and evolution 1 a hotspot or rising mantle diapir model 2 a sinking mantle diapir model and 3 gravitational relaxation of topography rising mantle diapirs are caused by heating at depth e g hotspot while sinking mantle diapirs may result from cooling or a phase change causing increased density and negative buoyancy at the base of the lithosphere the hotspot model is most consistent with the major characteristics of coronae with gravitational relaxation occurring as a modificational process the sinking mantle diapir would produce dominant central compression that has not been observed at coronae however higher resolution image and altimetry data from magellan can be used to distinguish more fully between the two models coronae in various states of formation and degradation can be identified in the venera 15 16 data suggesting that the process may be continuing today

fundamental issues in the geology and geophysics of venus a number of important and currently unresolved issues in the global geology and geophysics of venus will be addressable with the radar imaging altimetry and gravity measurements now forthcoming from the magellan mission among these are the global volcanic flux and the rate of formation of new crust the global heat flux and its regional variations the relative importance of localized hot spots and linear centers of crustal spreading to crustal formation and tectonics and the planform of mantle convection on venus and the nature of the interactions among interior convective flow near surface deformation and magmatism

coronae of mnemosyne regio morphology and origin abstract coronae are circular to elliptical structures 150 600 km across characterized in venera 15 16 and arecibo radar images by an annulus of concentric ridges the interiors of the structures are geologically complex displaying volcanic flows domes and radial concentric and or obliquely trending ridges and are generally distinct from the exterior the mnemosyne regio area to the west of ishtar terra contains seven coronae the largest cluster of coronae identified on venus on the basis of the morphologic and topographic characteristics of the coronae in the mnemosyne region we assess several possible models of corona origin using cross cutting and stratigraphic relationships we have been able to identify a sequence of features and events for this group of coronae and have determined that a variety of processes contribute to the origin and evolution of coronae we find that several processes associated with diapirism or hotspots and gravitational relaxation of high topography are most consistent with observed corona topography and morphology and are thus likely to have been significant in the formation and evolution of coronae on the basis of these observations and stratigraphic relationships the following sequence of events is outlined for the formation and evolution of coronae in this region 1 regional volcanic and tectonic activity 2 localized uplift and volcanism caused by diapirism or hotspots 3 annulus and trough formation related to gravitational relaxation accompanied by further volcanic activity 4 continued local volcanic flooding of the corona annulus and trough differences in morphology between coronae reflect variations in amount and significance of these geologic processes coronae in other regions exhibit the same overall characteristics as the mnemosyne coronae and support a similar origin for the majority of coronae

the timing of crustal extension and the eruption of continental flood basalts the association between mantle plumes continental flood basalt eruption and the extension and rifting of the crust is well recognized1 3 but there has always been controversy as to whether the plume or the rifting was the initiating factor4 5 was rifting triggered by doming above the thermal plume2 3 6 or was rifting the driving force preceding the associated volcanicity7 8 here i show that recent flow by flow mapping of two continental flood basalt provinces the columbia river basalt group and the deccan basalt group allows one to infer the relative timing of volcanicity and crustal extension in both provinces eruption of the main tholeiitic phase preceded significant extension and crustal thinning this suggests that the primary event in the formation of these provinces was the upwelling of a mantle plume and that the subsequent crustal extension rifting and decompression was in part a consequence of the initiation of that plume

quantitative three dimensional description of a rough surface and parameter evolution with shearing note roches reference lmr article 2002 005view record in web of science record created on 2006 11 09 modified on 2016 08 08

simultaneous fpi and tma measurements of the lower thermospheric wind in the vicinity of the poleward expanding aurora after substorm onset

scale effect on the shear behaviour of rock joints based on a numerical study abstract a large number of studies have been carried out to investigate the effect of scale on the shear behaviour of rock joints however the nature of scale dependency of rock joints is still unknown and remains an ongoing debate this paper investigates the effect of joint length on the shear behaviour of rough rock joints using pfc2d in this numerical approach the intact material is simulated by a dense packing of bonded particles and the joint is represented by micro scale slip surfaces at contacts between particles the validity of this numerical approach in reproducing the shear behaviour of rock joints has been studied in previous studies of authors against the physical experiments analytical and empirical models in this study numerical direct shear tests on a natural tensile joint and subdivided joints were carried out and the shear behaviour of these joints at different scale was investigated results of this study show that as the joint length increases the peak shear strength peak dilation rate and shear stiffness decrease while the peak shear displacement increases in order to find out the reason of observed scale dependency the mechanism of asperity degradation at different scales was investigated and it was found that the mobilisation of different sized asperities at different scales resulted in the observed scale effect

assimilated observations of thermospheric winds the aurora and ionospheric currents over alaska we present simultaneous measurements of thermospheric winds auroral emissions and ionospheric currents over alaska obtained from four separate instruments thermospheric f region wind maps were recorded by an all sky imaging fabry perot spectrometer located at poker flat and observing at 630 0 nm auroral images at 557 7 nm were obtained from the low resolution visible imager on board the polar satellite white light all sky auroral images were recorded by ground based all sky cameras located in alaska at poker flat 65 07 n 212 34 e and at kaktovik 70 06 n 217 24 e finally the east west component of the ionospheric f region plasma convection was inferred using the alaskan meridian chain of magnetometers montage images of these four data sets are presented projected onto a geographic map of the alaskan region we examine a 10 hour period during the alaskan local nighttime of february 10 1997 these montages illustrate a close relationship between spatial structures occurring in the aurora in the ionospheric plasma convection and in the f region wind field latitudinal shear of the geomagnetic zonal wind often observed in the premidnight time sector was seen to be associated with both the equatorward and poleward boundaries of the discrete aurora we focus particularly on a period commencing just after 0900 ut when a strong shear in the zonal wind was observed to sweep southward across alaska after magnetic midnight the wind field was dominated by the emergence of the cross polar jet from the polar cap this overwhelmed any wind features associated with local auroral processes

direct measurements of the ionospheric convection variability near the cusp throat 1 for the first time precise measurements obtained using super dual auroral radar network superdarn radars are used to quantify the temporal variability in the convection velocity and identify the cause of the variations for a particular event located in the vicinity of the cusp using superdarn line of sight los doppler velocities near 1200 magnetic local time and a standard fitting technique the observed temporal variability is related to dayside convection features such as the cusp convection throat and convection reversal boundaries crbs two distinct regions of variability are observed a region of high often 500 m s 1 hourly temporal variability occurring near the dayside crb of the dusk convection cell during interplanetary magnetic field imf by 0 and a region of very low 100 m s 1 temporal variability in the convection throat the source of the high variability near the dayside dusk crb is caused primarily by motion of the large scale convection pattern most likely due to the variable imf the line of sight velocities in this region fluctuate between sunward and antisunward directed flow depending on the position of the crb relative to the radar observation area in the convection throat however steady antisunward directed flow exceeding 500 m s 1 is observed despite the variable imf based on these observations it is expected that increased joule heating due to variability in the electric field occurs near the dayside crb of the crescent shaped convection cell and little additional joule heating occurs in the convection throat

growth and persistence of hawaiian volcanic rift zones hawaiian volcanic rift zones are modeled by representing the rifts and adjacent volcano flanks as long ridges with the geometry of flattened triangular prisms the intrusion of dikes along the axis of a rift requires a mechanism to generate the appropriate dike trapping stress field within the prism possible factors that affect the state of stress in the prism include multiple dike intrusion along the ridge axis faulting and gravitational sagging of the topography in extreme models with very steep slopes and high poisson s ratio corresponding to the gelatin models of rift zones by fiske and jackson 1972 results of finite element calculations indicate that gravity induced stresses are sufficient to trap a dike into propagating within the prism and parallel to the rift zone as proposed by fiske and jackson however the mechanism does not work for gently sloping flanks or a more acceptable poisson s ratio of about 0 25 additionally trapping stresses in the gravity loading and density stratification models will not persist after a few dike injection episodes therefore in mature hawaiian rift zones with possibly thousands of dikes additional processes must act to control the stresses that permit continued dike intrusion and rift persistence it is proposed that accommodation to dike emplacement occurs by slip on deep faults possibly of the type proposed for the 1975 kalapana hawaii earthquake as suggested by others for this earthquake the faults could coincide with the contact of the volcano with the seafloor within the weak seafloor sediments such faulting not only provides a means for the flanks to adjust continuously to intrusions but also generates the stress patterns needed to constrain future dikes to propagate along the rift axis other possible faulting mechanisms such as shallow gravity slides and normal faulting of the flanks do not appear to favor rift zone persistence in this model the horizontal stress generated by a standing column of magma at the time of dike emplacement the stresses in the ridges and the fault strength are coupled this results in a feedback between the maximum height that magma can rise along the rift fault friction and fault width through this feedback the slope of the volcano flank is controlled by the fault friction when applied to kilauea volcano the model yields an estimate for the coefficient of fault friction as high as 0 39 assuming normal hydrostatic pore fluid pressure an implication of this model supported by other studies is that rift intrusion and lateral spreading could be major contributors to volcano growth

dynamical consequences of compositional and thermal density stratification beneath spreading centers extraction of partial melt to form oceanic crust reduces the density of upwelling mantle beneath spreading centers this compositional buoyancy can significantly affect both the rate of upwelling and the pattern of mantle flow the relative importance of buoyant upwelling and upwelling due to plate spreading depends on the mantle viscosity for a low enough mantle viscosity buoyant upwelling can significantly enhance the thickness of the crust relative to that which would be produced by plate spreading alone for a mantle viscosity of 1022 pa s upwelling due to plate spreading is dominant and crustal thickness is predicted to be a strong function of spreading rate however for a mantle viscosity of 1019 pa s buoyancy dominates mantle upwelling and the calculated crustal thickness like the oceanic crust is nearly independent of spreading rate thermal and compositional density variations result in opposing buoyancy forces that can cause time dependent upwelling for a mantle viscosity of 1020 pa s and a low 1 cm yr spreading rate this behavior takes the form of undamped crustal thickness oscillations with a single well defined period for even slightly lower mantle viscosity the frequency increases and crustal thickness oscillations become more complex with two or more frequencies present while numerical experiments have thus far been carried out only for viscosities significantly greater than that likely to characterize the mantle beneath spreading centers we speculate that these crustal thickness oscillations may explain important aspects of seafloor structure

impact craters on venus initial analysis from magellan magellan radar images of 15 percent of the planet show 135 craters of probable impact origin craters more than 15 km across tend to contain central peaks multiple central peaks and peak rings many craters smaller than 15 km exhibit multiple floors or appear in clusters these phenomena are attributed to atmospheric breakup of incoming meteoroids additionally the atmosphere appears to have prevented the formation of primary impact craters smaller than about 3 km and produced a deficiency in the number of craters smaller than about 25 km across ejecta is found at greater distances than that predicted by simple ballistic emplacement and the distal ends of some ejecta deposits are lobate these characteristics may represent surface flows of material initially entrained in the atmosphere many craters are surrounded by zones of low radar albedo whose origin may have been deformation of the surface by the shock or pressure wave associated with the incoming meteoroid craters are absent from several large areas such as a 5 million square kilometer region around sappho patera where the most likely explanation for the dearth of craters is volcanic resurfacing there is apparently a spectrum of surface ages on venus ranging approximately from 0 to 800 million years and therefore venus must be a geologically active planet

tectonics of lakshmi planum venus tests for magellan the origin of lakshmi planum and its surrounding mountain belts remains an important unresolved element in the global tectonic framework of venus from the perspective of gravity signature and potential driving forces the mantle upwelling model is the simplest and its principal failure that it cannot produce radial shortening on the uplift periphery may be resolved if the lithosphere is laterally heterogeneous our preferred model consists of a hot mantle plume rising beneath a pre existing block of tessera the lithosphere is weakened at this hotter and presumably thicker crust and the outward near surface flow is attenuated at the peripheral discontinuity in lithospheric strength crustal thickening and mountain belt formation occur there we propose several criteria to test this tessera plume model together with its competitors at the higher resolution in both imaging and gravity afforded by the magellan mission

spatial and temporal relations between coronae and extensional belts northern lada terra venus preliminary studies of the distribution of coronae and volcanic rises on venus show that many of these features tend to cluster along zones of rifting and extension the plains north of lada terra are crossed by two such extensional belts each belt is composed of grabens ridges faults volcanic flows coronae and coronalike features the longer and more prominent belt is the nw trending alpha lada extensional belt which is over 6000 km long and 50 200 km wide and includes the coronae eve tamfana carpo selu derceto otygen and an unnamed corona south of otygen the second belt is the nne trending derceto quetzalpetlatl extensional belt which is about 2000 km long and in places over 300 km wide and includes the coronae sarpanitum eithinoha and quetzalpetlatl the two belts intersect at the 1600 600 km wide derceto volcanic plateau it is apparent that deformation along the two belts overlapped in time though deformation along the alpha lada extensional belt probably continued after the deformation along the derceto quetzalpetlatl extensional belt terminated in certain areas volcanism originated in grabens within the extensional belts whereas in other areas such as in eve selu derceto and quetzalpetlatl volcanism originated in the coronae and flowed into the lower parts of the extensional belts regional extension has affected the evolution of all the coronae at some stage of their development regional deformation occurred before the initiation of derceto and eithinoha and after the initiation of carpo tamfana otygen and sarpanitum it is thus unlikely that coronae formation along the belts is solely a consequence of the regional extension and it is also unlikely that regional extension has been caused solely by the coronae no corona along the belts was formed subsequent to the cessation of the regional extension we therefore suggest that the regional extension and the coronae are interrelated some of the coronae may have determined the location of the surface expression of the regional extension whereas the locations of other coronae may have been influenced by the concentration of regional extensional stresses

venus surface thermal emission at 1 μm in virtis imaging observations evidence for variation of crust and mantle differentiation conditions 1 the venus express spacecraft images the nightside thermal emissions using the visible and infrared thermal imaging spectrometer virtis at 1 02 1 10 and 1 18 m thermal emission from the surface is observed the signal is attenuated by scattering and absorption in the dense atmosphere the measured flux at the top of the atmosphere is positively correlated with surface temperature and surface emissivity the surface temperature of venus is relatively well constrained as being mainly a function of altitude with a gradient lesser or equal to the adiabatic lapse rate this study examines the correlation of virtis images showing a signal of the surface at 1 02 m with viewing geometry stray sunlight cloud opacity and topography and applies semiempirical relations to remove their influence the remaining contrast can be either ascribed to surface emissivity or unexpected temperature variations temperature variations due to active volcanism are unlikely to be persistent over the time of observations therefore the mosaic of all processed images is here interpreted in terms of surface emissivity variation the emissivity variation found is correlated with geomorphological features established from magellan synthetic aperture radar images it is generally lower at tessera terrain some but not all volcanic edifices show increased emissivity large lava flows in the lada terra lavinia planitia region also show an increased thermal emission this might indicate a more felsic surface composition of tessera highlands and large scale extrusive volcanism of ultramafic composition

dependencies of high latitude plasma convection consideration of interplanetary magnetic field seasonal and universal time factors in statistical patterns 1 the database of the nine radars of the super dual auroral radar network superdarn in the northern hemisphere has been analyzed for information on factors that influence the convection of plasma in the high latitude ionosphere the velocity measurements were collected over the period 1998 2002 the data were first used to derive a new statistical model of convection that improves upon the earlier one radar model of ruohoniemi and greenwald 1996 in its specification of the dependence of the convection pattern on the magnitude and direction of the imf in the gsm y z plane we then derived average patterns for secondary sortings by season year and radar such dependencies as emerged were most clearly seen by contrasting the results for by and by the seasonal effect in the convection pattern is found to have similarities to that of the sign of by in particular the combination of by summer by winter reinforces the tendency of the by sign factor to sculpt the dusk and dawn cells into more round crescent crescent round shapes and to shift the crescent cell across the midnight mlt meridian however these combinations are associated with lower estimates of the total cross polar cap potential drop pc while the nonreinforcing combinations produce elevated pc especially by summer there is an overall tendency for pc to increase from winter to summer although the pure seasonal effect on the potential drop is weaker than that of the by sign season factor we did not find pronounced differences among the patterns derived for the 5 individual years which spanned the most recent interval of solar cycle maximum sorting by radar we found few differences among the patterns for by but for by variations emerged that are consistent with a possible dependence on universal time ut the impacts of season and ut on convection in the high latitude ionosphere thus depends on the imf especially the sign of by we speculate that variability in the ionospheric conductivity has a greater effect on magnetosphere ionosphere coupling under by conditions

multispectral surface emissivity from virtis on venus express abstract the surface composition of venus is mostly inaccessible to remote observation due to the dense cloud cover there are five spectral windows that show measurable thermal emission from the surface at night the virtis spectrometer on venus express observed three of these windows over much of the southern hemisphere of venus we use these data along with magellan altimetry to map surface emissivity the data are initially processed to correct for instrumental straylight from the dayside of venus and to improve wavelength registration these corrected data are then inverted to emissivity at 1020 1100 and 1180 nm wavelength using lookup tables created by an atmospheric radiative transfer model as in earlier studies we find residual trends of surface emissivity with respect to the magellan altimetry that is used in the model to determine surface temperature and thickness of the atmosphere a new observation is that these trends vary significantly from region to region indicating some lateral variability of atmospheric parameters most likely near surface atmospheric temperature the trends are consistent over hundreds to thousands of km thus it is possible to correct for them heuristically in two regions studied in this paper there are significant deviations from the background emissivity which are associated with some geologic features the high noise in 1100 and 1180 nm maps derived from virtis data result in large uncertainties of spectral shape the virtis instrument was not designed for this task and future observations could provide high signal to noise ratio maps in at least 5 distinct bands diagnostic of major rock types and minerals

the role of rifting in the generation of melt implications for the origin and evolution of the lada terra lavinia planitia region of venus a rift zone over 6000 km in total length runs along the border of lada terra a highland in the southern hemisphere of venus and lavinia planitia a basin that has been interpreted as a site of early stage mantle downwelling along the length of the rift are a number of volcanic centers of widely varying morphology and volcanic output these include coronae radially fractured domes and large flow fields similar in scale to terrestrial flood basalts we develop a model for the origin of extension related to passive rifting in response to stresses created by the adjacent downwelling volcanism and extension at other rifts on venus such as devana chasma have been attributed to deep seated mantle plume activity in contrast we interpret the origin of extension and volcanism along the lada rift to be linked to upwelling and decompression melting of mantle material due to rifting and possibly to counterflow associated with downwelling extension occurred generally prior to the formation of volcanic centers and the eruption of large scale flow fields although most of the volcanic centers have been fractured by continued extension along the rift current debate over the formation of terrestrial flood basalts centers on the necessity of preexisting extension and stretched and thinned lithosphere to produce enhanced decompression melting within a large plume head or mantle thermal anomaly our studies of large scale flow fields associated with the lada rift and coronae on venus indicate that extension is a prerequisite for the formation of the majority of large scale flow units on venus

volcanism and tectonics on venus we review recent developments in the study of volcanism and tectonics on venus venus s crust is basaltic dry and probably about 30 km thick the mantle convects giving rise to plumes and has a similar composition and mean temperature 1300 c but a higher viscosity 10 20 pa s than that of the earth inferred melt generation rates constrain the lithospheric thickness to between 80 and 200 km the elastic thickness of the lithosphere is about 30 km on average the present day lack of plate tectonics may be due to strong faults and the high viscosity of the mantle most of the differences between earth and venus processes can be explained by the absence of water venus underwent a global resurfacing event 300 600 ma ago the cause and nature of which remains uncertain the present day surface heat flux on venus is about half the likely radiogenic heat generation rate which suggests that venus has been heating up since the resurfacing event

experimental and numerical study of asperity degradation in the direct shear test abstract in this paper the shear behaviour and mechanisms of asperity degradation of rock joints under direct shear tests were studied using numerical and experimental approaches pfc2d was used for numerical simulations in which the intact material is simulated by a dense packing of circular particles bonded together at their contact points and by breakage of these bonds under loading regimes the damage process is simulated the joint interfaces were simulated by a newly developed modified smooth joint model in which micro scale slip surfaces are applied at contacts between particles of upper and lower blocks of the shear box in order to study the ability of this numerical approach in reproducing the shearing mechanisms and asperity degradation of rock joints in direct shear tests a comparative study was carried out against the physical experiments experimental and numerical direct shear tests were carried out on saw tooth triangular joints with the base angles of 20 and 30 under different normal stresses three shearing mechanisms of sliding surface wear and asperity shearing off were observed in these experiments the comparison of the shear behaviour and mechanisms of asperity degradation of physical and numerical experiments showed that the results of numerical models are in good agreement with physical experiments and this numerical approach can reproduce the shear behaviour of rock joints under different loading conditions

structural evolution of lavinia planitia venus implications for the tectonics of the lowland plains this work shows the results of a detailed structural analysis of the deformation belts of lavinia planitia ridge belts and graben and groove belts can be observed at the studied area while wrinkle ridges and large individual grooves predominate in the smooth plains transcurrent components of displacement are commonly observed and transpression and transtension zones are the rule rather than the exception at most of the studied belts along strike azimuth changes of deformation belts are accommodated by internal variations in the predominance of contractional transcurrent or extensional structures the material of the surrounding plains embays most of these deformation belts the kinematic analysis of this complex network of tectonic structures suggests a broadly synchronous activity of contractional transcurrent and extensional structures the maximum horizontal shortening axis determined in this work describes a steady semicircular pattern centered at alpha regio this deformation continued although with subdued activity after embayment of the deformation belts by the material of the plains future study of the tectonic evolution of the lowland plains should take into account the importance of the coeval history of neighboring uplands and lowlands

small scale convective instability and upper mantle viscosity under california thermal calculations and convection analysis constrained by seismic tomography results suggest that a small scale convective instability developed in the upper 200 kilometers of the mantle under california after the upwelling and cooling of asthenosphere into the slab window associated with the formation of the san andreas transform boundary the upper bound for the upper mantle viscosity in the slab window 5 x 10 19 pascal seconds is similar to independent estimates for the asthenosphere beneath young oceanic and tectonically active continental regions these model calculations suggest that many tectonically active continental regions characterized by low upper mantle seismic velocities may be affected by time dependent small scale convection that can generate localized areas of uplift and subsidence

the morphology and evolution of coronae on venus coronae on venus are large circular to ovoidal surface features that have distinctive tectonic volcanic and topographic expressions they range in diameter from less than 200 km to at least 1000 km new data from the magellan spacecraft have shown coronae to be among the dominant tectonic forms on the planet and have revealed their morphology in unprecedented detail typical coronae are dominated by concentric tectonic features and have a raised rim a central region higher than the surounding plains but in many instances lower than the rim and commonly a peripheral depression or moat some coronae also show significant amounts of radial tectonic structure and in most cases this predates the concentric features in addition there are other features on venus recognized for the first time in magellan data that consist of domical rises with intense radial tectonic patterns and little or no concentric structure all of these features commonly are associated with moderate to large quantities of volcanism in fact some radially fractured domes have undergone so much volcanism that volcanic construction appears to have played a significant role in establishing their topography we explore a model of corona formation that links these forms into a genetic sequence the model begins with the ascent of a mantle diapir upward mantle flow driven by its ascent forces the lithosphere above the diapir upward producing a gentle dome with a radiating pattern of extensional fractures as the diapir impinges on the underside of the lithosphere it flattens and spreads transforming the uplift to a more flat topped shape in this flattened near surface configuration the diapir can cool rapidly with the resultant loss of buoyancy the raised plateau can relax to form a central sag a raised rim and a depressed moat concentric tectonic features develop primarily during the latter stages of corona formation and hence are best preserved on mature coronae volcanism takes place during all phases of the uplift and may diminish as the relaxation occurs our analyses to date suggest that this scenario is broadly consistent with many of the coronae on venus however there is enormous diversity in corona morphology and features are present that require substantial deviations from this simple model in particular some circular depressions appear corona like in synthetic aperature radar images but may in fact be large calderas some of the variations observed in corona morphology may ultimately be interpretable in terms of variations in the behavior of individual diapirs and in the local properties of the venusian lithosphere

estimation of the joint roughness coefficient of rock joints by consideration of two order asperity and its application in double joint shear tests abstract joint roughness has a significant influence on the shear behavior of rock joints many different statistical parameters have been used to estimate the joint roughness coefficient jrc of rock joints depending on what is most easily available and convenient six statistical parameters z2 sf rp 1 log z2 logsf and r p 1 of ten typical roughness profiles were calculated at different sampling intervals si the results indicate that the jrc of rock joints could not be accurately estimated by using only a single statistical parameter because the first order and second order asperities of joints have different effects on shear behavior a classified and weighted fitting formula jrc 16 09 logz21st 12 70 logz22nd 33 75 si 5 0 mm 0 5 mm is proposed to estimate the jrc shear tests on sandstone joints indicate that the maximum jrc along the shear direction is appropriate to represent the total joint surface and estimate the shear strength this formula was adopted to estimate the jrc in double joint shear tests and the results show that the mechanical behavior of double parallel joints is closely related to the interlayer rock and the weaker joint under lower normal stress the interlayer rock does not fracture and the weaker joint determines the peak shear strength of the rock specimen in contrast under higher normal stress the peak shear strength is attained when the tensile fractures initiate in the interlayer rock and it has also relevancy to the jrc of double joints and interlayer thickness

winds in the high latitude lower thermosphere dependence on the interplanetary magnetic field 1 wind observations in the summertime lower thermosphere at high southern latitudes measured by the wind imaging interferometer windii on the upper atmosphere research satellite are statistically analyzed in magnetic coordinates and correlated with the interplanetary magnetic field imf to determine influences of imf dependent ionospheric convection on the winds effects are clearly detectable down to 105 km altitude above 125 km the wind patterns show considerable similarity with ionospheric convection patterns and the speed of the averaged neutral wind in the polar cap often exceeds 300 m s the correlation between the imf bz component and the diurnal harmonic of the winds is generally best when the imf is averaged over the preceding 1 4 5 hours the magnetic zonal mean zonal wind below 120 km correlates best with the imf by component when the latter is averaged over approximately the preceding 20 hours the wind has a significantly stronger rotational than divergent component around and above 120 km a dusk side anticyclonic wind vortex is prominent consistent with earlier findings around 140 km and higher the dusk side vortex intensifies for negative bz but around 120 km it is the dawn side cyclonic vortex that responds more strongly to bz variations the dependence of the wind on the imf is nonlinear especially with respect to imf bz for positive bz the difference winds are largely confined to the polar cap while for negative bz the difference winds extend to subauroral latitudes a significant correlation between the diurnal bz dependent neutral and convection velocity components exists above 108 km when the convection velocity is suitably rotated in magnetic local time mlt with respect to the wind the rotation that maximizes the correlation ranges from 1 5 hours at 130 km wind preceding convection to nearly 6 hours at 108 km wind lagging convection the rotated diurnal bz dependent wind pattern projects onto the diurnal bz dependent ionospheric convection pattern with about 60 the amplitude of the latter above 125 km decreasing to about 17 at 108 km on timescales of 20 hours a by dependent magnetic zonal mean zonal wind generally exists with maximum wind speeds at 80 magnetic latitude typically 10 m s at 105 km increasing to about 60 m s at 123 km and 80 m s at 200 km in the southern hemisphere the wind is cyclonic when the time averaged by is positive and anticyclonic when by is negative the wind direction is expected to be opposite in the northern hemisphere

comparison of height integrated current densities derived from ground based magnetometer and rocket borne observations during the porcupine f3 and f4 flights on march 19 1979 the porcupine f3 rocket was launched from esrange sweden during a period of low magnetospheric activity while the porcupine f4 rocket launched on march 31 1979 flew during a rather disturbed interval besides other experiments the rockets took measurements of ionospheric electric fields and energetic particle spectra the electron spectra measured by the rocket were used to calculate height integrated ionospheric conductivities by using rees method together with the electric field measurements height integrated current densities could be calculated from the rocket measurements during both flights the magnetic perturbations recorded on the ground by the scandinavian magnetometer array indicated a westward electrojet since during both flights the electric field was nearly southward directed and parallel to the ground magnetic disturbance vectors the westward electrojet could be attributed to a nearly pure hall current in both cases from the magnetic data height integrated ionospheric current densities have been computed at the magnetic footprints of the rockets in the ionosphere by means of field separation and upward continuation a comparison of the current densities derived from ground based magnetometer and rocket borne observations shows a very good agreement in the quiet period during the porcupine f3 flight while there are differences during stronger magnetospheric activity porcupine f4 flight due to the different spatial and temporal resolution of rocket and ground observations

venus topography and kilometer scale slopes during the first 8 months of the magellan mission the radar altimeter has made some three million measurements of the surface of venus covering the latitude range from 85 n to 80 s methods involving range correlation doppler filtering multi burst summation and range migration are used to focus the observations and to achieve high surface resolution results are presented as maps of the global distribution of topography meter scale roughness and power reflection coefficient the results are similar to those reported in previous experiments surface heights exhibit a unimodal distribution with more than 80 of the surface lying within 1 km of the 6051 84 km mean radius but the higher resolution of the magellan altimeter has disclosed several surprisingly steep features e g the southwest face of the maxwell montes the southern face of the danu montes and the chasmata to the east of thetis regio where average kilometer scale slopes of greater than 30 are not uncommon this conclusion is corroborated by close inspection of synthetic aperture radar imagery

estimating the relation between surface roughness and mechanical properties of rock joints discontinuities in rock masses have an important influence on deformational behaviour of blocky rock systems for a single rock joint the roughness of its surface is of paramount importance to its mechanical and hydraulic properties such as friction angle shear strength and dilatancy aperture many methods have been used to characterize the surface roughness of rock joints such as joint roughness coefficients jrc root mean square rms value structure function sf etc however most of these methods can only be used in the 2 d models in this study we carried out direct shear experiments on rock joints under both constant normal load cnl and constant normal stiffness cns conditions and measured the surfaces of rock joints before and after shearing using a 3 d laser scanning profilometer system by using a 3 d fractal evaluation method of roughness characterization the projective covering method pcm and a direct shear apparatus of high accuracy the relation between mechanical properties of rock joints under different boundary conditions and the change of their fractal dimensions in both 2 d and 3 d models have been examined which gives a new approach to accurately evaluate the evolution of roughness of rock joint surfaces and its influence on the hydro mechanical behaviours of rock joints

vertical wind observations with two fabry perot interferometers at poker flat alaska characteristics of vertical winds in the polar thermospheric region were examined using data sets generated with two types of fabry perot interferometers at poker flat alaska 65 11 n 147 42 w the communications research laboratory fabry perot interferometer crlfpi simultaneously observed the o i 557 7 nm and o i 630 0 nm emissions whereas the geophysical institute scanning doppler imaging interferometer gi sdi observed the o i 630 0 nm emission the height of the o i 557 7 nm and o i 630 0 nm emissions were 100 140 and 200 240 km respectively the data were obtained from october 1998 to february 1999 and our findings were as follows 1 observations of the o i 630 0 nm emission showed that upward downward vertical winds were often present when bright aurora existed equatorward poleward of the observatory this is consistent with previous studies crickmore et al 1991 innis et al 1996 1997 2 comparison of vertical winds estimated from two different wavelengths 557 7 and 630 0 nm showed that vertical winds were often observed simultaneously at both wavelengths as reported by price et al 1995 however the vertical winds observed at different heights sometimes had different features when thin but bright aurora passed over the observatory a similar observation was reported by ishii et al 1999 3 vertical winds were often observed along with divergence and rotation of the horizontal wind field some vertical winds not associated with active aurora may be driven by the divergence in the horizontal wind

geophysical models for the formation and evolution of coronae on venus coronae are large circular features on venus characterized by an annulus of concentric tectonic features interior fracturing volcanism and generally upraised topography they are suggested to form over sites of mantle upwelling and modified by subsequent gravitational relaxation we examine this proposition using two geophysical models to determine whether and under what conditions these mechanisms can produce the topography and tectonics exhibited by coronae in the magellan altimetry data and radar images our results show that mantle diapirism can produce the domical topography of novae which may be coronae in the earliest stage of formation the model stresses induced at the surface by a mantle diapir imply the formation of radially oriented extensional fracturing as observed in novae the dimensions of novae indicate that the diapirs responsible for them are smaller than about 100 km in radius and that the elastic lithosphere is less than 32 km thick diapirs that have reached the top of the mantle are expected to spread and flatten producing plateaulike rather than domical topography we model a flattened diapir at the top of the mantle and show that it will result in plateaulike uplift the volume of the flattened model diapir is similar to that of the spherical diapirs derived for novae we model gravitational relaxation of isostatically uncompensated plateaus and show that they relax to the topographic forms associated with coronae and that the model stresses are consistent with the development of the annulus of tectonic features around coronae

magmatism at rifted continental margins the intense volcanism and uplift observed on many rifted continental margins forming basaltic seaward dipping reflector sequences is accompanied by the emplacement of a thick igneous section at depth partial melting by decompression of passively upwelling asthenosphere that is hotter than normal because it is near a hotspot explains both the thickness of the new igneous crust and the initial elevation of the rifted margins

convection driven tectonics on venus an analysis is presented for convective stress coupling to an elastic lithosphere as it applies to tectonic deformation on venus theoretical solutions are introduced for the response of a mathematically thick elastic plate overlying a newtonian viscous medium with an exponential depth dependence of viscosity a green s function solution is obtained for the viscous flow driven by a harmonic density distribution at a specified depth it is shown that during the transient phase of the solution the field quantities stress velocity displacement in both media depend upon the rheology of both media whereas in steady state the solutions become uncoupled due to this uncoupling stresses obtained from a purely viscous solution can be applied as boundary conditions at the base of an isolated elastic plate i show for such a plate that 1 shear stress imparted at the base of the lower boundary can induce large in plane stretching mode forces and 2 these forces can be estimated directly from free air gravity anomalies without detailed knowledge of the density distribution in the underlying flow free air gravity anomalies for venus imply in plane forces of about 2 3 1012 n m in plane forces of this magnitude are capable of extensive disruption of the venusian lithosphere to demonstrate this an elastic plastic analysis is carried out for the deformation of a model venus lithosphere the calculation is based on a lithospheric strength envelope and uses gravity and topography as a guide to the magnitude of stresses imparted by convective flow the results predict that dynamic uplift of venusian topography must be accompanied by extensive brittle failure and viscous flow in the lithosphere geoid anomalies and geoid to topography ratios for venusian topographic features are large compared to values for thermal swells in earth s ocean basins this suggests that dynamic support of topography must be an important process on venus further a low viscosity zone is probably not present beneath the venusian lithosphere a comparative analysis suggests that tectonic deformation of the lithosphere associated with dynamically supported topography on earth is unimportant

coldspots and hotspots global tectonics and mantle dynamics of venus magellan radar images and altimetry data and pioneer venus gravity data of major highlands and lowlands on venus are examined with the objective of relating these tectonic and volcanic landforms to convection within venus mantle two roughly circular lowlands atalanta and lavinia planitiae are bowl shaped depressions which contain compressional tectonic features and lack hotspot related features such as coronae and shield volcanoes they are identified as surface expressions of young mantle coldspots or regions of mantle downwelling highlands can be divided into two distinct groups volcanic rises and plateau shaped highlands volcanic rises are domical circular to elongate regions characterized by volcanic construction extensional tectonism large positive gravity and geoid anomalies centered on the highlands and large apparent depths of compensation volcanic rises include beta bell atla and western eistla regiones and are identified as surface expressions of large mantle hotspots or plumes plateau shaped highlands are steep sided elevated regions that range from circular alpha regio to elongate or irregular ovda regio tellus regio in shape their surfaces are dominated by complex ridged terrain rather than the shield volcanoes and flows that dominate volcanic rises most plateau shaped highlands contain compressional structures some of which commonly lie along their margins and have small gravity and geoid anomalies and small apparent depths of compensation compared to volcanic rises plateau shaped highlands which include those mentioned above and western ishtar terra thetis regio and phoebe regio are identified as surface expressions of mantle coldspots or regions of downwelling the highland coldspot features are elevated as a consequence of crustal thickening crustal thickening is absent or minor at lowland coldspots the importance of mantle downwelling in the tectonic deformation of venus suggests that its mantle like the mantle of earth is strongly heated from within the major venusian hotspots attest to the existence of large mantle plumes carrying heat upward from the planet s core

damping of large scale traveling ionospheric disturbances detected with gps networks during the geomagnetic storm 1 large scale traveling ionospheric disturbances lstids during the geomagnetic storm on 22 september 1999 were studied using total electron content tec data from the gps earth observation network geonet in japan international gps service igs and continuously operating reference stations cors in the united states the damping rates of the lstids were precisely derived in several local time sectors and were found to depend on values of the background tec this indicates that the dominant physical mechanism of the lstids damping is the ion drag effect by the background ionosphere the high resolution tec data from geonet revealed that two successive lstids were damped significantly as they traveled equatorward in the dawn sector the ratio of the perturbation component of tec to the background component i i0 decreased exponentially with the damping rate of 0 89 1000 km and 0 77 1000 km we studied also the amplitude of i i0 at high latitudes using igs data and found that the damping rates of lstids at high latitudes tended to be smaller than those at midlatitudes global tec observations during this geomagnetic storm by the igs and cors networks detected that several lstids propagated also equatorward in the afternoon sector and in the night sector the lstids in the afternoon sector were most damped with the damping rate of 1 04 1000 km which corresponds to the e folding length of 961 km the damping rate of lstids in the night sector was found to be small the lstids had a tendency to be damped rapidly in the regions where background tec was large this dependence of the damping rate on latitude and local time indicates that this intense damping of lstids was caused mainly by the ion drag effect that is proportional to the ion collision frequency the relation between the damping rates and the background tec derived from the observation are consistent with those estimated with a theoretical calculation of the gravity wave damping by the ion drag effect the worldwide distribution of gps receivers enabled us to estimate the longitudinal extent of these lstids the zonal width of lstids in the dawn sector was narrower than 45 in longitude 2 900 km around 55 n and wider than 20 in longitude 1 800 km around 40 n these widths were narrower than those reported in previous studies

auroral zone thermospheric dynamics 1 averages forty four nights of thermospheric neutral wind and temperature measurements were obtained with a ground based fabry perot spectrometer at college alaska 65 invariant latitude mostly during high to moderate levels of solar activity the spectrometer scanned the o i 15 867 k 6300 a emission line yielding line profile measurements that originate from an altitude range between 170 and 280 km the observed average wind direction is to the northwest in the early evening changing to the south near midnight and then to the southeast in the morning the overall wind pattern generally persists but the wind speed increases with increasing geomagnetic activity a change in the zonal wind direction occurs earlier in magnetic local time with increasing magnetic activity the meridional wind pattern also shifts equatorward with the auroral oval during increasing magnetic activity consequently the average wind pattern in the north during low geomagnetic activity is rather similar to the moderate activity average in the south and the moderate geomagnetic activity average wind pattern in the north is similar to the high geomagnetic activity average in the south the observed average thermospheric temperature is found to be governed by geomagnetic activity and the previous day s 10 7 cm solar flux

width and structure of mesoscale optical auroral arcs arc widths were calculated for 3126 stable auroral arcs observed by an all sky camera located in gillam manitoba the camera is filtered to accept 5577 a emissions and has a single pixel spatial resolution of 1 7 km at zenith the measured mean width of stable mesoscale arcs located within 5 of magnetic zenith is 18 km with a standard deviation of 9 km the width distribution exhibits a steep cutoff below 8 km when combined with studies of small scale auroral structure this cutoff suggests a gap in the occurrence of arcs with widths of order 1 km this feature of the arc width spectrum argues against the notion of a turbulent cascade of energy from larger to small scales residuals from the gaussian fits are only about 3 of the arc amplitude on average indicating little sub structure within arcs at scales down to the measurement resolution

anatomy of a venusian hot spot geology gravity and mantle dynamics of eistla regio eistla regio is a series of broad swells each up to a few thousand kilometers in diameter in the equatorial highlands of venus it is characterized by strong positive free air gravity anomalies shield volcanoes and rift systems we present a two part study of the western and central portions of this venusian hot spot first magellan radar images were mapped in order to understand the general geologic history of the region radial fracture systems both on the rises and volcanoes indicate uplift and associated faulting accompanied volcanic construction prominent fracture zones strike wnw to nw parallel to the long axis of the highlands the largest of these guor linea displays a progressive deformation history that may include minor clockwise rotation in addition to bulk nne ssw extension other regional structural patterns also suggest this sense of rotation the parts of eistla studied here appear to be structurally distinct from surrounding regions although volcanic radar bright plains and ridge and groove deformation to the west indicate an earlier more diffuse thermal uplift in the second part of our analysis pioneer venus line of sight accelerations were inverted for vertical gravity which when combined with topography were used to solve for mass anomalies on the crust mantle boundary and in the upper levels of the mantle convective system both western and central eistla appear to be sites of vigorous mantle upwelling a linear upwelling appears beneath guor linea indicating that rifting is actively driven by mantle flow minor crustal thinning may be present beneath western eistla and the northern plains whereas some thickening occurs beneath central eistla and the southern plains heng o corona in particular may be the site of a small shallow mass anomaly of either compositional thickened crust or thermal origin mantle return flow is asymmetrically distributed about eistla being much stronger to the south than the north and little flow is inferred at all to the ne in bereghinya planitia these differences introduce a clockwise rotation to finite strain in agreement with observations

coronae of parga chasma venus 1 parga chasma is a 10 000 km long fracture and trough system in the southern hemisphere of venus in this study we analyze coronae in the parga region addressing the relationship between corona and rift formation the relationship of volcanism to rifting and coronae and the overall evolution of the rift system our observations are compared with various models with the aim of determining any causative relationships between corona formation volcanism and rifting our statistical analysis shows that coronae are randomly located within this region indicating that corona locations are not significantly controlled by rifting or by lithospheric loading caused by the earlier formation of other coronae our observations suggest that the two processes of corona and rift formation were occurring more or less synchronously with no specific control on each other but that coronae and rifting in this region are genetically related we find a wide variation in the amount of volcanism associated with coronae across the parga region and no evidence for a deep seated plume or multiple plumes beneath parga chasma we suggest that the concentration of volcanic features in the beta atla themis region may actually result from three independent but overlapping broad zones of deformation corona formation and enhanced volcanism associated with the three rifts parga hecate and devana chasmata rather than one large zone of activity covering the whole of the region simultaneously

venus tectonics initial analysis from magellan radar imaging and altimetry data from the magellan mission have revealed a diversity of deformational features at a variety of spatial scales on the venus surface the plains record a superposition of different episodes of deformation and volcanism strain is both areally distributed and concentrated into zones of extension and shortening the common coherence of strain patterns over hundreds of kilometers implies that many features in the plains reflect a crustal response to mantle dynamic processes ridge belts and mountain belts represent successive degrees of lithospheric shortening and crustal thickening the mountain belts also show widespread evidence for extension and collapse both during and following crustal compression venus displays two geometrical patterns of concentrated lithospheric extension quasi circular coronae and broad rises with linear rift zones both are sites of significant volcanism no long large offset strike slip faults have been observed although limited local horizontal shear is accommodated across many zones of crustal shortening in general tectonic features on venus are unlike those in earth s oceanic regions in that strain typically is distributed across broad zones that are one to a few hundred kilometers wide and separated by stronger and less deformed blocks hundreds of kilometers in width as in actively deforming continental regions on earth

generating melt during lithospheric extension pure shear vs simple shear the uniform stretching model has been used to calculate the volume and composition of melt generated by adiabatic decompression during extension of the continental lithosphere the consequences of this approach for melt generation by litbospheric simple shear were investigated the results show that given an initially planar detachment fault it is extremely difficult to generate melt from the asthenosphere under either normal or elevated asthenospheric potential temperatures our conclusion is independent of the initial dip of the detachment fault and also holds when the initial dip in the lithospheric mantle is double that in the crust in the north sea lithospheric simple shear fails to account for the existence and location of magmatism these conclusions may also apply more generally to passive margin development

terrestrial spreading centers under venus conditions evaluation of a crustal spreading model for western aphrodite terra abstract assessment of terrestrial spreading centers under venus environmental conditions indicates that the major difference between earth and venus would be the influence of the enhanced surface temperature on upper mantle temperatures on venus and the resulting increase in crustal thickness and elevation of isostatically compensated topography crust on venus produced at average spreading centers would be about 15 km thick in contrast to the average crustal thickness on earth of about 5 km we have used this model and the pioneer venus altimetry and gravity data to test the hypothesis of head and crumpler 1987 6 that western aphrodite terra represents the location of crustal spreading on venus the topographic data are processed such that all points within equally spaced 100 km wide bins parallel to the proposed axis are stacked together and the average value of topography in each bin is calculated providing average profiles out to a distance of 2000 km on either side of the axis the topography is shown to be very symmetric about the axis with data points less than 1000 km from the axis providing a fit to thermal boundary layer topography comparable to that seen in spreading centers on earth at 1000 km on either side of the axis steep topographic slopes exist this change in topography could be explained by variations of about 15 km in crustal thickness with the crust being thicker in the central domain by a ridge jump or by mechanisms unrelated to crustal spreading for processing line of sight los acceleration data we first show that static and dynamic calculations give the same results for track numbers 427 449 this allows us to determine a synthetic orbit track parallel to the cross strike dis continuities csd s and to compare it with observed los accelerations gravity data for this domain were then processed in a manner similar to that for topography models give a reasonable fit to the data for half spreading rates between 0 3 and 0 5 cm yr we conclude that a spreading center model for ovda regio could account for the observed topography and los gravity anomalies if it had the following characteristics a central domain with a 30 km thick crust that has been spreading at about 0 5 cm yr for the last 200 myr over a mantle whose temperature is about 1600 c at about 200 myr ago a change in upper mantle temperature of about 100 c is required prior to this time the decreased upper mantle temperature would have produced a thinner crust averaging about 15 km at the spreading center this thinner crust would now lie on the flanks of ovda regio at distances greater than 1000 km from the spreading center and would be in excess of 200 myr old on the basis of our analysis we conclude that the hypothesis that ovda regio in western aphrodite terra is the site of crustal spreading on venus is consistent with the topography and gravity data

a statistical study of intense low altitude electric fields observed by freja extremely intense up to 2 v m and fine structured 1 5 km electric fields have been observed by the freja satellite at altitudes of 1400 1770 km to study the occurrence and characteristics of these intense electric field events a database was set up by searching 7 months worth of freja data for events with peak values greater than 200 mv m the intense electric field events are distributed over all local times but they are mostly concentrated to the midnight and early morning sector of the auroral oval the events are seen to be associated with low ambient ionospheric conductivities but are not activity dependent the most intense events located in the midnight sector are associated with the smallest scale sizes whereas the less intense events on the day side have larger scale sizes the findings are consistent with the interpretation that a majority of the intense electric field events observed by freja are associated with the small scale east west aligned low conductivity bands devoid of auroral emissions known as black auroral bands or with the curls that may develop when these bands go unstable several observations of diverging electric fields of around 1 v m at 800 km altitude within the southern auroral oval may serve as support for the prediction that intense electric fields should exist also at ionospheric altitudes

large scale volcanism associated with coronae on venus implications for formation and evolution large scale volcanism in the form of areally extensive flow fields is a previously unrecognized important aspect of the evolution of at least 41 of all coronae on venus the timing and scale of many coronae flow fields is consistent with an origin due to the arrival and pressure release melting of material in the head of a mantle plume or diapir the production of voluminous amounts of volcanism at some coronae is proposed to be the result of larger plume size and or the intersection of mantle upwellings with regions of lithospheric extension and rifting