Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

Living Edition

Skylight

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_342-1
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Definition

An opening in the roof of a cave or lava tube into subsurface cavernous spaces that admits daylight (Larson 1992).

Synonyms

Cave skylight entrance, cave entrance, ceiling skylight. Planetary analogues are variously described as, e.g., pits or steep-walled pits (Robinson et al. 2012), vertical holes (Haruyama et al. 2009), atypical pit craters (Cushing et al. 2007; Cushing 2012).

Subtypes

  1. (1)

    Lava tube skylight: Opening into a lava tube (Figs. 3 and 5c)

     
  2. (2)

    Fracture skylight: Opening into a volcano-tectonic cave (Cushing 2012) or fault cave (Halliday et al. 2012; Fig. 5d)

     

Formation

They form by collapse into subsurface voids such as lava tubes, the tops of dikes, and structural faults or grabens (Williams et al. 2010). They seem directly related to pit craters and may have formed in a similar manner with overhanging ceilings that remain intact (Cushing et al. 2007). In a few small terrestrial examples, skylights are produced by high gas pressures in the earliest stages...

Keywords

Impact Crater Lava Tube Cave Entrance Circular Feature Steep Wall 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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References

  1. Cushing GE (2012) Candidate cave entrances on Mars. J Cave Karst Stud 74(1):33–47. doi:10.4311/ 2010EX0167RCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Cushing GE, Titus TN, Wynne JJ, Chrystensen PR (2007) THEMIS observes possible cave skylights on Mars. Geophys Res Lett 34:L17201. doi:10.1029/2007GL030709CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Gault DE (1970) Saturation and equilibrium conditions for impact cratering on the lunar surface: Criteria and implications. Radio Sci. 5:273–291CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Halliday WR (1996) Recent volcanospeleological progress in Hawaii. In: Oromí P (ed) In: 7th international symposium on vulcanospeleology Santa Cruz de la Palma, Canary Islands, 1994, pp 51–58Google Scholar
  5. Halliday WR, Stefansson A, Favre G (2011) Pit craters and open vertical volcanic conduits of Earth and Mars. GSA annual meeting, Minneapolis, 9–12 Oct 2011, #189935Google Scholar
  6. Halliday W, Favre G, Stefansson A, Whitfield P, Banks N (2012) Occurrence and absence of lava tube caves with some other volcanic cavities; a consideration of human habitation sites on Mars. 43rd Lunar Planet Sci Conf, abstract #1613, HoustonGoogle Scholar
  7. Haruyama J, Hioki K, Shirao KM, Morota T, Hiesinger H, van der Bogert CH, Miyamoto H, Iwasaki A, Yokota Y, Ohtake M, Matsunaga T, Hara S, Nakanotani S, Pieters CM (2009) Possible lunar lava tube skylight observed by SELENE cameras. Geophys Res Lett 36:L21206. doi:10.1029/2009GL040635CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Haruyama J, Hara S, Hioki K, Morota T, Yokota Y, Shirao M, Hiesinger H, van der Bogert CH, Miyamoto H, Iwasaki A, Ohtake M, Saito Y, Matsunaga T, Nakanotani S, Pieters CM, Lucey PG (2010) New discoveries of lunar holes in Mare Tranquillitatis and Mare Ingenii. Lunar Planet Sci 41, abstract #1285, HoustonGoogle Scholar
  9. Larson CV (1992) Nomenclature of lava tube features. In: Rea GT (ed) In: 6th international symposium of Vulcanospeleology, Hilo, Aug 1991. National Speleological SocietyGoogle Scholar
  10. Robinson MS, Ashley JW, Boyd AK, Wagner RV, Speyerer EJ, Hawke BR, Hiesinger H, van der Bogert CH (2012) Confirmation of sublunarean voids and thin layering in mare deposits. Planet Space Sci 69(1):18–27CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Self S, Keszthelyi L, Thordarson T (1998) The importance of pahoehoe. Ann Rev Earth Planet Sci 26:81–110CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Skinner E (1993) Open vertical volcanic conduits: a preliminary investigation of an unusual volcanic cave form, with examples from Newberry volcano and the central high cascades of Oregon. In: Halliday WR (ed) In: Proceedings of the third international symposium on vulcanospeleology bend, Oregon, 30 July–1 Aug 1982. International Speleological Foundation, pp 7–17Google Scholar
  13. Williams KE, McKay CPM, Toon OB, Head JW (2010) Do ice caves exist on Mars? Icarus 209:358–368CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institut fur PlanetologieWestfälische Wilhelms-Universität MünsterMünsterGermany
  2. 2.Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera Science Operations CenterSchool of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State UniversityTempeUSA