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Flooding of Ganymede's bright terrains by low-viscosity water-ice lavas

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Abstract

Large regions of the jovian moon Ganymede have been resurfaced, but the means has been unclear1,2. Suggestions have ranged from volcanic eruptions of liquid water3,4,5 or solid ice6 to tectonic deformation7,8,9, but definitive high-resolution morphological evidence has been lacking. Here we report digital elevation models of parts of the surface of Ganymede, derived from stereo pairs combining data from the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft, which reveal bright, smooth terrains that lie at roughly constant elevations 100 to 1,000 metres below the surrounding rougher terrains. These topographic data, together with new images that show fine-scale embayment and burial of older features10, indicate that the smooth terrains were formed by flooding of shallow structural troughs by low-viscosity water-ice lavas. The oldest and most deformed areas (the ‘reticulate’ terrains) in general have the highest relative elevations, whereas units of the most common resurfaced type—the grooved terrain—lie at elevations between those of the smooth and reticulate terrains. Bright terrain, which accounts for some two-thirds of the surface, probably results from a continuum of processes, including crustal rifting, shallow flooding and groove formation. Volcanism plays an integral role in these processes, and is consistent with partial melting of Ganymede's interior11,12.

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Figure 1: Bright terrain units and topography within Sippar Sulcus, Ganymede.
Figure 2: Terrain units and topography at the intersection of Erech Sulcus and northern Sippar Sulcus, Ganymede.
Figure 3: High-resolution views of Sippar Sulcus.

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Acknowledgements

We thank K. Jones for image processing during the early phases of this project, L. Prockter and especially R. Kirk for comments on the manuscript, and NASA's Jovian Systems Data Analysis Program and the Planetary Geology & Geophysics Program for support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, 77058, Texas, USA

    Paul M. Schenk

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University, Saint Louis, 63130, Missouri, USA

    William B. McKinnon

  3. Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, California, USA

    David Gwynn

  4. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, 94035, California, USA

    Jeffrey M. Moore

Authors
  1. Paul M. Schenk
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  2. William B. McKinnon
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  3. David Gwynn
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  4. Jeffrey M. Moore
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Correspondence to Paul M. Schenk.

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Schenk, P., McKinnon, W., Gwynn, D. et al. Flooding of Ganymede's bright terrains by low-viscosity water-ice lavas. Nature 410, 57–60 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35065027

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35065027

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