Space technology in the discovery and development of mineral and energy resources

Space technology, applied to the discovery and extraction of mineral and energy resources, is summarized. Orbital remote sensing for geological purposes has been widely applied through the use of LANDSAT satellites. These techniques also have been of value for protection against environmental hazards and for a better understanding of crustal structure

Geological use of Earth-orbital photography

Geological uses of earth-orbital photography with case historie

A proposed test area for the spaceborne geodynamic ranging system

Precise geodetic measurements are proposed in which an orbiting laser obtains intersite distance between retroreflectors 25 to 100 km apart on the ground. The recommended area is a rectangle 200 by 400 km in southern California and adjacent Nevada, trending northeast. It includes the entire width of the San Andreas fault zone, the Garlock fault, the thrust faults of the Transverse Ranges, and the active strike-slip faults of the Mojave Desert

Lunar impact craters

Topography and evolution of lunar craters - meteoritic impact - selenograph

Lunar resources - Their value in lunar and planetary exploration

Nature and extraction of lunar resources for use in increasing economy of manned lunar and planetary exploratio

Studies of the major planet satellite systems

A summary is presented of the available data on the satellites of the major planets, including the currently most plausible models for several observed phenomena, for the planning of spacecraft missions to these objects. Some of the important questions likely to be solved by flyby and/or orbital missions to the giant planets are detailed, the importance of these studies to our understanding of the solar system as a whole is indicated

Comparative planetology: Significance for terrestrial geology

The crustal evolution of the terrestrial planets increase in complexity and duration with increasing size and mass of the planet. The lunar and mercurian surfaces are largely the result of intense, post-differentiation impact bombardment and subsequent volcanic filling of major impact basins. Mars, being larger, has evolved further: crustal uplifts, rifting, and shield volcanoes have begun to modify its largely Moon-like surface. The Earth is the large end-number of this sequence, where modern plate tectonic processes have erased the earlier lunar and martian type of surfaces. Fundamental problems of the origin of terrestrial continents, ocean basins, and plate tectonics are now addressed within the context of the evolutionary pattern of the terrestrial planets

Imaging radar investigations of the Sudbury structure

This paper reports preliminary results of airborne imaging radar studies of the Sudbury structure carried out in preparation for a CCRS European Remote Sensing Satellite (ERS-1) investigation. The data used were synthetic aperture radar (SAR) C-band (5.66 cm) images acquired from about 6 km altitude in 1987. They cover the Sudbury area in both wide and narrow swath modes, with east-west flight paths and north-south illumination directions. Narrow swath resolution is 6 m in range and azimuth; wide swath resolution is 20 m in range and 10 m in azimuth. The STAR imagery has proven highly effective for field use, providing excellent rendition of topography and topographically expressed structure. Reasons for this include the illumination geometry, notably the look azimuth normal to the long axis of the Sudbury structure and Penokean fold axes, the good spatial resolution, and the short wavelength. Forested areas in the Sudbury area tend to be uniformly rough at C-band wavelength, with backscatter dominated by local incidence angle (i.e., topography). Field work using the SAR imagery has to date been concentrated in the North Range and Superior Province as far north as the Benny greenstone belt. This area was chosen for initial investigation of the original size and shape of the Sudbury structure because the effects of the Penokean Orogeny were minimal there. Field work using SAR indicates that there has been little postimpact deformation of the North Range or adjacent Superior Province rock. There appears to be no evidence for an outer ring concentric with the North Range as indicated by early Landsat imagery. The apparent ring shown by Landsat is visible on the SAR imagery as the intersection of two regional fracture patterns not related to the Sudbury structure. There is no outer ring visible southwest of the structure. This can reasonably be explained by Penokean deformation, but there is no outer ring to the northeast cutting the relatively undeformed Huronian sediments of the Cobalt Embayment

What's up? Perspectives from the first international forest canopy conference at Sarasota, Florida, 1994

Journal ArticleJumars, caribineers, pole pruners, tree bicycles, Bosun's chairs, booms, peconhas . . . these terms are not listed in most biological dictionaries. Nor are construction cranes or large treehouses or hot-air dirigibles listed as priority equipment for any scientific laboratories. But these are the essential tools required to provide some of the exciting results reported at the recent First International Forest Canopy Conference during November 1994 at The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida