Structure of the St. Francois Mountains and surrounding lead belt, S. E. Missouri: Inferences from thermal IR and other data sets

Day-IR, day-visible, and night-IR image data sets were analyzed. All three images were contrast enhanced, using a linear stretch. The night-IR image was destriped using a box-car filtering approach. Apparent thermal inertia images were generated from the data. The enhanced data and the apparent thermal inertia image were also registered and overlayed onto shaded relief images depicting topography and onto a colored version of the Missouri geologic map. The combination of the apparent thermal inertial image and the shaded relief map proved to have the greatest discriminability in terms of portraying linear features. The reason seems to be that the vegetation canopy on the Ozark Plateau is different topography, tend to emphasize subtle topographic effects

Surface processes on Venus

Magellan synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and altimetry data were analyzed to determine the nature and extent of surface modification for venusian plains in the Sedna Planitia, Alpha Regio, and western Ovda Regio areas. Specific cross sections derived from the SAR data were also compared to similar data for dry terrestrial basaltic lava flows (Lunar Crater and Cima volcanic fields) and playas (Lunar and Lavic Lakes) for which microtopographic profiles (i.e., quantitative roughness information) were available

Pattern, age, and origin of structural features within the Ozark plateau and the relationship to ore deposits

Topography and gravity anomaly images for the continental United States were constructed. Evidence was found based on gravity, remote sensing data, the presence, trend, and character of fractures, and on rock type data, for a Precambrian rift through Missouri. The feature is probably the failed arm of a triple junction that existed prior to formation of the granite-rhyolite terrain of southern Missouri

Shuttle imaging radar-A (SIR-A) data analysis

The utility of shuttle imaging radar (SIR-A) data was evaluated in several geological and environmental contexts. For the Ozark Plateau of southern Missouri, SIR-A data were of little use in mapping structural features, because of generally uniform returns. For western Illinois, little was to be gained in terms of identifying land use categories by examining differences between overlapping passes. For southern Australia (Koonamore Station), information ion vegetation types that was not obtainable from LANDSAT MSS data alone was obtained. Specifically, high SIR-A returns in the Australian site were found to correlate with locations where shrubs increase surface roughness appreciably. The Australian study site results demonstrate the synergy of acquiring spectral reflectance and radar data over the same location and time. Such data are especially important in that region, since grazing animals have substantially altered and are continuing to alter the distribution of shrublands, grasslands, and soil exposures. Periodic, synoptic acquisition of MSS and SAR data would be of use in monitoring the dynamics of land-cover change in this environment

Structure of the St. Francois Mountains and surrounding lead belt, S. E. Missouri: Inferences from thermal IR and other data sets

Heat Capacity Mapping Mission (HCMM) in the form of an apparent thermal inertia image were merged with shaded relief maps and Bouguer gravity maps. The HCMM data show that the dominant structural grain in Missouri strikes in a northwesterly direction. The strike is the same as a major basement fault or flexure identified on the basis of gravity images

Imaging natural materials with a quasi-microscope

A Viking lander camera with auxilliary optics mounted inside the dust post was evaluated to determine its capability for imaging the inorganic properties of granular materials. During mission operations, prepared samples would be delivered to a plate positioned within the camera's field of view and depth of focus. The auxiliary optics would then allow soil samples to be imaged with an 11 pm pixel size in the broad band (high resolution, black and white) mode, and a 33 pm pixel size in the multispectral mode. The equipment will be used to characterize: (1) the size distribution of grains produced by igneous (intrusive and extrusive) processes or by shock metamorphism, (2) the size distribution resulting from crushing, chemical alteration, or by hydraulic or aerodynamic sorting; (3) the shape and degree of grain roundness and surface texture induced by mechanical and chemical alteration; and (4) the mineralogy and chemistry of grains

Comparative studies of lunar, Martian, and Mercurian craters and plains

The spatial distribution of lunar smooth plains is not consistent with experimental simulations of melt rock emplacement during cratering in layered materials. Nor is it consistent with the location of melt rocks (suevite) near the Ries basin. Lunar smooth plains surrounding Imbrium are most extensive in areas where pre-existing craters are most degraded. This observation suggests that plains form by impact of basin and local primary crater ejecta, together with deposition of debris excavated by the resultant secondary cratering events. Craters within the belt of smooth plains surrounding the Caloris basin on Mercury are most degraded nearest the basin; this suggests that Mercurian smooth plains must, at least in part, be emplaced in a manner similar to plains surrounding the Imbrium basin. Mercurian uplands have a primary crater population deficient in small crater diameters (less than approximately 30 km). Lunar uplands far from major basins also have a crater population deficient in small crater sizes. Martian cratered terrain exhibits a similar crater deficiency, which was previously interpreted as due to obliteration of small craters (less than approximately 30 km) by some surface process. A crater size distribution deficient in small sizes (less than approximately 30 km) on the Mercurian, lunar, and Martian uplands has implications for the origin of debris bombarding the inner solar system during the period recorded by these surfaces. It is proposed that during late heavy bombardment, the inner solar system was inundated with bodies that broke up under tidal fission as they approached the planets. Such a mechanism would lend to production of a crater population deficient in small crater sizes, and it would also explain the large degree of spatial clustering of primary craters on Mercury, the moon, and Mars

Characterization of surficial units on Mars using Viking orbiter multispectral image and thermal data

Albedo and thermal property correlations of the topography of Mars were conducted with emphases upon the types and origins of materials exposed in the central equatorial region. This area displays a wide variation in color, albedo and thermal properties, and is relatively free of dust and haze. The physical, mineralogical and elemental characteristics of this area are discussed

Patient Education: Exercise for Weight Loss

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Bright sand/dark dust: The identification of active sand surfaces on the Earth and Mars

Field studies and analysis of LANDSAT Thematic Mapper data in the Gran Desierto, Mexico may shed light on a technique to distinguish active from inactive (relict) sand surfaces. Active sand bodies in the study area are consistently brighter (by an average of 20%) at visual and near infrared wavelengths and darker at thermal infrared wavelengths than compositionally similar inactive sands. The reasons for the albedo difference between active and inactive sands are reviewed and the mixing model of Johnson et al. is examined for tracing the provenance of sands based on albedo and spectral variations. Portions of the wavelengths covered by the Mars Orbiter correspond to the Thematic Mapper data. The identification of active sands on Earth, with a priori knowledge of bulk composition and grain size distribution, may allow the remote mapping of active sand surfaces on Mars. In conjuction with thermal infrared remote sensing for composition, it may also provide a method for the remote determination of grain size distributions within sand/silt mixtures