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Crustal Plateau (Venus)

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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

Crustal plateaus are ~1,500–2,400 km diameter, steep-sided, flat-topped, quasi-circular regions on Venus that reside 1–4 km above mean planetary radius (MPR) and which host much of the planet’s ribbon tessera terrain (complexly deformed crust).

Category

A type of crustal plateau.

Description

In SAR images, crustal plateaus (Fig. 1) appear as extensive, radar-bright, or relatively rough terrains surrounded by radar-dark, or relatively smooth, lowlands.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Alpha Regio. Magellan left-look radar image mosaic. Scale bar 400 km (NASA/JPL/USGS)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, USA

    Vicki L Hansen

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  1. Vicki L Hansen
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Correspondence to Vicki L Hansen .

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Hansen, V.L. (2014). Crustal Plateau (Venus). In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_122-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_122-1

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