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Albedo/Color Dichotomy

Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

Albedo/color dichotomy occurs on a planetary surface, which is characterized by two spectrally different terrains of regional to hemispheric/global scale.

Synonyms

Albedo asymmetry; Spectral dichotomy

Category

A type of albedo feature

Formation

Albedo dichotomy may be related to partial coverage of the surface by liquids, frost, ices, fine-grained atmospheric dust, materials from space, or related to processes such as sublimation, high-energy particle impacts, differences in grain size, composition, or material age/maturity, etc.

Regional Variations

Moon

The Moon shows an albedo dichotomy of high-albedo terra/highland (impact ejecta) and low-albedo mare (Moon) (basaltic plains) surfaces.

Mars

The surface of Mars displays low-albedo terrains dominated by mafic sand-sized materials and high-albedo terrains covered by dust (Ruff and Christensen 2002; Albedo Feature: Mars).

Ganymede

Ganymede’s bimodal surface consists of young, bright, grooved terrain (Groove, Ganymede) and...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Erzsébet Illés-Almár

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  1. Erzsébet Illés-Almár
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Correspondence to Erzsébet Illés-Almár .

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Illés-Almár, E. (2014). Albedo/Color Dichotomy. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_7-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_7-1

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Albedo Dichotomy or Color Dichotomy
    Published:
    29 December 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_7-2

  2. Original

    Albedo/Color Dichotomy
    Published:
    29 May 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_7-1

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