Terrestrial analogs to lunar sinuous rilles - Kauhako Crater and channel, Kalaupapa, Molokai, and other Hawaiian lava conduit systemsTwo source vents, one explosive and one effusive erupted to form a cinder cone and low lava shield that together compose the Kalaupapa peninsula of Molokai, Hawaii, A 50-100-m-wide channel/tube system extends 2.3 km northward from kauhako crater in the center of the shield. Based on modeling, a volume of up to about 0.2 cu km of lava erupted at a rate of 260 cu m/sec to flow through the Kauhako conduit system in one of the last eruptive episodes on the peninsula. Channel downcutting by thermal erosion occurred at a rate of about 10 micron/sec to help form the 30-m-deep conduit. Two smaller, secondary tube systems formed east of the main lava channel/tube. Several other lava conduit systems on the islands of Oahu and Hawaii were also compared to the Kauhako and lunar sinuous rille systems. These other lava conduits include Whittington, Kupaianaha, and Mauna Ulu lava tubes. Morphologically, the Hawaiian tube systems studied are very similar to lunar sinuous rilles in that they have deep head craters, sinuous channels, and gentle slopes. Thermal erosion is postulated to be an important factor in the formation of these terrestrial channel systems and by analogy is inferred to be an important process involved in the formation of lunar sinuous rilles.
Document ID
19900046417
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Coombs, C. R. (NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX; Hawaii, University, Honolulu, United States)
Hawke, B. R. (NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Wilson, L. (Hawaii, University Honolulu, United States)