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Is Ishtar Terra a thickened basaltic crust?The mountain belts of Ishtar Terra and the surrounding tesserae are interpreted as compressional regions. The gravity and surface topography of western Ishtar Terra suggest a thick crust of 60-110 km that results from crustal thickening through tectonic processes. Underthrusting was proposed for the regions along Danu Montes and Itzpapalotl Tessera. Crustal thickening was suggested for the entire Ishtar Terra. In this study, three lithospheric models with total thicknesses of 40.75 and 120 km and initial crustal thicknesses of 3.9 and 18 km are examined. These models could be produced by partial melting and chemical differentiation in the upper mantle of a colder, an Earth-like, and a hotter Venus having temperatures of respectively 1300 C, 1400 C, and 1500 C at the base of their thermal boundary layers associated with mantle convection. The effects of basalt-granulite-eclogite transformation (BGET) on the surface topography of a thickening basaltic crust is investigated adopting the experimental phase diagram and density variations through the phase transformation.
Document ID
19930005104
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Arkani-Hamed, Jafar
(McGill Univ. Montreal Quebec, Canada)
Date Acquired
September 6, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1992
Publication Information
Publication: Lunar and Planetary Inst., Papers Presented to the International Colloquium on Venus
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Exploration
Accession Number
93N14292
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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