00-035

Jovian System Data Analysis Program

Cover Page/Proposal Summary

ROSS-99    NRA 99-OSS-01

Date Due: 5/5/99

NASA PROCEDURE FOR HANDLING PROPOSALS

This proposal shall be used and disclosed for evaluation purposes only, and a copy of this Government notice shall be applied to any reproduction or abstract thereof. Any authorized restrictive notices that the submitter places on this proposal shall also be strictly complied with. Disclosure of this proposal for any reason outside the Government evaluation purposes shall be made only to the extent authorized by the Government.

Proposal Type: New Proposal

Proposal Category: Satellites and Rings

Major Equipment Proposal? No

Do you intend to submit an Education/Public Outreach (E/PO) proposal? No

Proposal Title:
Geologic Mapping of Europa: Evaluation of Global and Regional-scale Stratigraphy and Structure

Abbreviated Proposal Title:
Geology of Europa

Principal Investigator:
Dr. Dave Senske
Mail Stop 264-580
Jet Propulsion Lab.
4800 Oak Grove Dr.
Pasadena, CA 91109-8099
Phone: 818-393-7775   Fax: 818-393-4530   E-mail: dsenske@pop.jpl.nasa.gov

SignatureDate
_________________________________________________

Co-Investigators and Collaborators:
NONE


Proposal Summary:

Five goals are put forward in this proposal: (1) To understand global-scale stratigraphic relations between various plains units and between different sets of triple bands and linea. This will be accomplished through the expansion of global-scale mapping currently being performed and will aid in constraining the relative chronology as to when large-scale crustal disruption events occurred; (2) To use regional-scale data collected during GEM to refine global unit definitions, assess trends in age and evaluate their distribution in both longitude and latitude. This will provide a basis to extrapolate units to other parts of the satellite; (3) To use offset relations to reconstruct and quantify displacement of different units, allowing an assessment to be made of the amount of strain and crustal movement that has occurred and to evaluate possible variations in time; (4) To quantify variability in ridge structure (e.g. wavelength of ridge spacing) and evaluated any change with time. If wavelength is a function of layer thickness, this should give insight into the degree to which lithospheric thickness on Europa may differ in time and location on the satellite; (5) To determine trends in linea (triple bands, ridges etc.) orientation and relative age and to evaluate how their distribution may vary in time. This will provide a means to better evaluate the hypothesis that non-synchronous rotation may have occurred. Senske, D.A., R. Greeley, J. Head, R. Pappalardo, R. Sullivan, M. Carr, P. Geissler, J. Moore, and the Galileo Imaging Team, Geologic Mapping of Europa: Unit Identification and Stratigraphy at Global and Local Scales,LPSC XXIX, 1743-1744, 1998 Prockter, L.M., J.W. Head, D.A Senske, R.T. Pappalardo, G. Neukum, R. Wagner, U. Wolf, J. Oberst, B. Giese, J.M. Moore, C.R. Chapman, P. Helfenstein, R. Greeley, H.H. Breneman, and M.J.S. Belton. Dark terrain on Ganymede: Geological mapping and interpretation of Galileo Regio at high resolution, Icarus, 135,317-344, 1998