JULY 2016 COVER: High-resolution (75 m/pixel) synthetic aperture radar image of tessera in northeast Alpha Regio (Venus) (IMAGE)

Geological Society of America

JULY 2016 COVER: High-resolution (75 m/pixel) synthetic aperture radar image of tessera in northeast Alpha Regio (Venus)

Caption

High-resolution (75 m/pixel) synthetic aperture radar image of tessera in northeast Alpha Regio (Venus) taken during the NASA Magellan Mission. Tesserae are highly deformed materials on Venus (bright regions in the image) that are believed to be some of the oldest materials on the planet. Radar brightness variations in the tessera (compare the brighter top of the image and the darker bottom of the image) can reveal information about the distribution of crater ejecta in tessera. This, in turn, can be used to identify tessera that have not been contaminated by crater ejecta; future missions to Venus can then target these uncontaminated regions to measure the composition of the tessera terrains, which has implications for the role of water in the early geologic history of Venus. See "Recent volcanic resurfacing of Venusian craters," by Whitten et al., p. 519-522. Photo by NASA/Magellan Mission.

Credit

Photo by NASA/Magellan Mission. July cover design by Heather Sutphin.

Usage Restrictions

Credit: Geology; Photo by NASA/Magellan Mission; July cover design by Heather Sutphin.

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