Characterizing Cratering at the Iapetus Equatorial Ridge using Stereo Topography

Abstract:

Since the arrival of the Cassini probe to the Saturnian system in 2004, the flattened shape and extreme equatorial ridge of the moon Iapetus have posed a number of questions regarding its geophysical evolution. Current models suggest either tidal despinning or a collapsed ring system formed the ridge, with ²⁶Al decay serving as an additional heating mechanism and warm ice or liquid water beneath a thick lithosphere potentially allowing for large-scale topography and deformation to occur (Sandwell and Schubert 2010). Structure at the ridge itself provides further questions in understanding the deformation of Iapetus at its equator. Persaud and Phillips (2014) use stereo topography to present a trend of crater relaxation and crater diameter that suggests a secondary heating event has relaxed younger, smaller craters focused at this region. The extreme slopes along the ridge, however, complicate understanding the order of events that have occurred on Iapetus, including ridge formation, crater relaxation, secondary thermal events, and mass wasting.

We use topographic profiles of Iapetus impact craters extracted from digital elevation models (DEMs) constructed with stereo images from the Cassini ISS Instrument to characterize crater complexity and transition diameters versus crater floor geometry, proximity to the equatorial ridge, and relaxation percentage. We then use these results to begin to develop a geometric model of events at the ridge on Iapetus to understand its deformation history.

We will present results and discussion of using stereo topography for these analyses.

References: Sandwell, D., and G. Schubert. A contraction model for the flattening and equatorial ridge of Iapetus, Icarus 210, 817-822, 2010.

Persaud, D.M., and C.B. Phillips. Methods of Estimating Initial Crater Depths on Icy Satellites using Stereo Topography, AGU Fall Meeting 2014, abstract 17043.

This work was supported by the 2015 NASA Ames Academy for Space Exploration.