Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “STRATIGRAPHY”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2017

Stratigraphy and Evolution of Delta Channel Deposits, Jezero Crater, Mars

The Jezero impact crater hosted an open-basin lake that was active during the valley network forming era on early Mars. This basin contains a well exposed delta deposit at the mouth of the western inlet valley. The fluvial stratigraphy of this deposit provides a record of the channels that built the delta over time. Here we describe observations of the stratigraphy of the channel deposits of the Jezero western delta to help reconstruct its evolution.

sedimentology↗
NASA NTRS2018

Probing Supraglacial Debris on Mars 1: Sources, Thickness, and Stratigraphy

Geomorphic and geophysical evidence supports a debris-covered glacier origin for a suite of landforms at themid-latitudes of Mars, including lobate debris aprons (LDA), lineated valley fill (LVF), and concentric crater fill (CCF). These large reservoirs of ice and their near-surface structure provide a rich record for understanding the planet's climate and history of global volatile exchange over the past billion years. LDA, LVF, and CCF are also potential sites for future robotic and human missions but the accessibility of glacial ice for direct sampling and in situ resource utilization depends largely on the geotechnical properties of the surface debris ("supraglacial debris"), including its thickness, grain sizes, and density structure. The physical properties of this supraglacial debris layer have been poorly constrained. We use images of morphology, digital elevation models, thermal inertia data, and radar sounding data to probe the near surface of LDA, LVF, and CCF in Deuteronilus Mensae in order to place constraints on the sources, grain sizes, thickness, and stratigraphy of supraglacial debris. We find evidence for at least a two-layer stratigraphy. Layered mantle consisting of atmospherically emplaced dust and ice superposes boulder-rich sediment sourced by rockfalls glacially transported downslope. High thermal inertia, boulder-rich termini and debris bands reminiscent of medial moraines are found throughout the study region, supporting a rockfall origin for at least a fraction of the debris exposed at the surface. This supraglacial debris layer would have thickened with time from sublimation of glacial ice and liberation of englacial sediment and dust. At present, the entire supraglacial debris package is a minimum of a few meters in thickness and is likely tens of meters in thickness in many locations, possibly thinning regionally at lower latitudes and locally thinning toward the headwalls. The lack of terracing or interior structures in craters formed within LDA, LVF, and CCF and the absence of near-surface reflectors in SHARAD radar data further suggest that no strong contrasts in

Supraglacial↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Stratigraphy of the Apollo 17 Landslide Core 73002 From FMR Maturity and VNIR and Mössbauer Spectroscopy

A suite of samples from the Apollo missions to the Moon (1969-1973) were set aside and stored under controlled conditions to have unexamined lunar samples available decades later for analyses that take advantage of evolved sample handling techniques, maturation of then existing instrumentation, and development of new analytical techniques and instrumentation [e.g., 1]. One preserved sample is the Apollo 17 double drive tube core (73001/2) that was driven into the lunar surface on the landslide deposit at Station 3 on the South Massif in the Taurus-Littrow valley [2]. The deeper section (73001) was stored frozen in a Core Sample Vacuum Container (CSVC) to maximize preservation of lunar volatiles. We report here, as a part of the Apollo Next Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) Initiative [1,3], stratigraphy for the upper core section (73002) with respect to maturity (ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) maturity index Is/FeO [4-6]), visible-near-IR (VNIR) spectroscopy, and, for representative samples, grain-size analysis and Mössbauer spectroscopy. Stratigraphy provides data to model the dynamics of lunar landslide deposits and their post-emplacement evolution in comparison to impact-driven mixing on an airless body and stratigraphic context for volatile and (if any) organic behavior. Reported by [7] are preliminary results for multispectral imaging and hyperspectral scanning of the first dissection pass of 73002.

R. V. Morris↗
DOE OSTI2022

Supplemental Material: Cretaceous sequence stratigraphy of the northern Baltimore Canyon Trough: Implications for basin evolution and carbon storage

We focus on potential reservoirs in the Logan Canyon Formation. Based on lithostratigraphy, Libby-French originally divided the Logan Canyon sandstones into lower and upper Logan Canyon sandstone units separated by the Sable Shale equivalent. Miller et al. reinterpreted the well-log correlations with biostratigraphy using a sequence stratigraphic approach and found three distinct Logan Canyon highstand sandstones associated with three Aptian to lower Cenomanian stratigraphic sequences, the LC3, LC2, and LC1, respectively. In addition, Miller et al. found that the Sable Shale Formation identified by Libby-French was placed above and below the LC1 basal sequence boundary in some wells, highlighting issues with correlating units based only on lithology. The Upper Cretaceous strata in the BCT are termed the Dawson Canyon Equivalent Formation, correlate to the DCx composite sequence, and cap the Logan Canyon sequences below made up of a very thick, calcareous Cretaceous sequence stratigraphy mudstone, divided by a single, thick, laterally continuous Coniacian to Campanian sandstone called the Middle Sandstone.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

Cretaceous sequence stratigraphy of the northern Baltimore Canyon Trough: Implications for basin evolution and carbon storage

We evaluate the Cretaceous stratigraphy and carbon sequestration potential of the northern Baltimore Canyon Trough (NBCT) using >10,000 km of multi-channel seismic profiles integrated with geophysical logs, biostratigraphy, and lithology from 29 offshore wells. We identify and map six sequences resolved primarily at the stage level. Accommodation was dominated by thermal and non-thermal subsidence, though sequence boundaries correlate with regional and global sea-level changes, and the record is modified by igneous intrusion, active faulting, and changes in sediment supply and sources. Our stratigraphic maps illustrate a primary southern (central Appalachian) Early Cretaceous source that migrated northward during the Aptian and Albian. During the Cenomanian, sedimentation rates in the NBCT increased and depocenters shifted northward and landward. We show that deposition occurred in three phases: (1) earlier Cretaceous paleoenvironments were primarily terrestrial indicated by variable amplitude, chaotic seismic facies, serrated gamma logs, and heterolithic sandstones and mudstones with terrestrial microfossils; (2) the Albian to Cenomanian was dominated by deltaic paleoenvironments indicated by blocky, funnel-shaped, gamma-ray logs and clinoforms characterized by continuous high-amplitude seismic reflections with well-defined terminations; and (3) the Cenomanian and younger was marine shelf, inferred from mudstoneprone lithologies, peak gamma-ray values in well logs, and foraminiferal evidence. Long-term transgression and maximum water depths at the Cenomanian/Turonian boundary correlative with Ocean Anoxic Event 2 were followed by a regression and relative sea-level fall. We show that porous and permeable sandstones of three Aptian to Cenomanian highstand systems tracts are high-volume reservoirs for supercritical CO 2 storage that are confined by overlying deep water mudstones.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS1973

Basalt stratigraphy of southern Mare Serenitatis

The major features of the stratigraphic and structural sequence are summarized for Mare Serenitatis. The dark oldest basalts include flows coextensive with Mare Tranquillitatis and also flows and pyroclastic deposits (dark mantles) that erupted from the edge of the Serenitatis basin. The basin sagged, possibly isostatically, as basalts of intermediate age were emplaced. Sagging had nearly ceased by the time the youngest flows were deposited. Compressive movements including thrusting followed, and small extensional fissures formed in late Copernican time. The revised stratigraphic sequence that was elaborated has implications for lunar stratigraphy that transcend the boundaries of Mare Serenitatis. Dark mantle deposits and the darkest maria have commonly been assumed in geologic mapping to be relatively youthful. These assumptions must now be reevaluated and perhaps discarded.

Howard, K. A.↗
NASA NTRS1973

Apollo 16 stratigraphy - The ANT hills, the Cayley Plains, and a pre-Imbrian regolith

A total of 645 particles in the 1 to 2 mm size range has been classified in the Apollo 16 soil samples 60602,3, 61242,7, 66042,4, 67602,13, and 69942,13. Five major categories of lithic fragments recognized in these samples include (1) an anorthositic/noritic/troctolitic, or ANT suite, (2) light-matrix breccias, (3) poikiloblastic noritic/anorthositic fragments, (4) spinel-troctolites, and (5) feldspathic basalts. The petrography and phase chemistry of the lithic fragments are discussed along with results of the fragment census and the stratigraphy of the Apollo 16 site.

Taylor, G. J.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Stratigraphy of the Descartes region /Apollo 16/ - Implications for the origin of samples

Analysis of terrain in the Apollo 16 Descartes landing region shows a series of features that form a stratigraphic sequence which dominates the history and petrogenesis at the site. An ancient 150-km diam crater centered on the Apollo 16 site is one of the earliest recognizable major structures. Nectaris ejecta was concentrated in a regional low at the base of the back slope of the Nectaris basin to form the Descartes Mountains. Subsequently, a 60-km diam crater formed in the Descartes Mountains centered about 25 km to the west of the site. This crater dominates the geology and petrogenetic history of the site. Stone and Smoky Mountains represent the degraded terraced crater walls, and the dark matrix breccias and metaclastic rocks derived from North and South Ray craters represent floor fallback breccias from this cratering event. The interpretation is developed that the stratigraphy of the Cayley and Descartes, and thus the historical record of the Apollo 16 region, documents the complex interaction of deposits and morphology of local and regional impact cratering events. Large local 60- to 150-km diam craters have had a dramatic and previously unrecognized effect on the history and petrology of the Apollo 16 site.

Head, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Problems in the interpretation of lunar mare stratigraphy and relative ages indicated by ejecta from small impact craters

The numbers of large ejecta blocks in excess of several meters in diameter ('blockiness') around the rims of small craters in southeastern Mare Serenitatis exceed those around similar craters in southern Mare Imbrium (and some other regions) at all but the final stages of crater degradation. Terrestrial explosion crater analogs, studies of impact processes, and a layered mare model suggest that the nature of the layering in the subsurface, including lavas, ejecta and buried regolith horizons, could account for the variable blockiness of crater ejecta and, possibly, for some variation in crater size-frequency distributions. Such effects would limit the reliability and utility of counting postmare craters for the purpose of estimating the relative ages of mare surfaces. Similarly, comparisons of the effects of progressive degradation on small impact craters to determine relative or absolute ages of individual craters may be limited by the influence of stratigraphy on ejecta fragment size distributions, which would in turn affect micrometeorite erosion rates and regolith production models.

Young, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Stratigraphy and structural geology

The immediate goal of stratigraphy and structural geology is to reduce the enormous complexity of a planetary surface to comprehensible proportions by dividing the near-surface rocks into units and mapping their distribution and attitude.

Carr, M. H.↗
NASA NTRS1976

Stratigraphy and Tectonics of Southeastern Serenitatis

Results of investigations of returned Apollo 17 samples, and Apollo 15 and 17 photographs have provided a broad data base on which to interpret the southeastern Serenitatis region of the moon. Although many of the pre-Apollo 17 mission interpretations remain valid, detailed mapping of this region and correlation with earth-based and orbital remote-sensing data have resulted in a revision of the local mare stratigraphy.

Maxwell, T. A.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Mare Crisium - Regional stratigraphy and geologic history

Spectral reflectance measurements of five Luna 24 samples and new telescopic reflectance spectra of 10-20 km areas of seven sites in Mare Crisium have been used to calibrate multispectral images of mare units. Based on these data, three major mare units are defined in the Crisium basin and their stratigraphy is interpreted. The oldest mare unit is exposed in the ejecta of the craters Picard and Peirce and along the outer edge of the southeastern part of the basin. The next younger unit includes the Luna 24 site and generally follows a topographic annulus along the basin margin. The youngest mare unit occupies the central part of the basin. It is concluded that subsidence occurred throughout the emplacement of mare units, including extensive warping and downfaulting of the inner part of the Crisium basin.

Adams, J. B.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Regional stratigraphy and geologic history of Mare Crisium

Remote sensing and Luna 24 sample data are used to develop a summary of the regional stratigraphy and geologic history of Mare Crisium. Laboratory spectra of Luna 24 samples, telescopic reflectance spectra in the 0.3 to 1.1 micron range and orbital X-ray data have identified three major basalt groups in the region. Group I soil is derived from iron- and magnesium-rich titaniferous basalts and was apparently emplaced over the majority of the basin, however is presently exposed as a shelf in the southwest part. Group II soils, derived from very low titanium ferrobasalts, were emplaced in two stages subsequent to Group I emplacement and now appear as part of the outer shelf and topographic annulus. Subsidence of the basin interior preceded and continued after the emplacement of the third basalt group, a soil derived from a low titanium ferrobasalt. The Luna 24 site is found to be within a patch of Group II material.

Head, J. W., III↗
NASA NTRS1984

Chronology, morphology and stratigraphy of pumiceous pyroclastic-flow (ignimbrite) deposits from the eruption of Mount St. Helens on 18 May 1983

Between 1217 and 1620 hours (PDT), on May 18, 1980, the magmatic eruption column of Mount St. Helens formed an ash fountain and pyroclastic flows dominated the eruption process over tephra ejection. Eurption-rate pulsations generally increased to a maximum at 1600 to 1700 hrs. After 1620 hrs, the eruption assumed an open-vent discharge with strong, vertical ejection of tephra. Relative eruption rates (relative mass flux rates) of the pyroclastic flows were determined by correlating sequential photographs and SLAR images, obtained during the eruption, with stratigraphy and surface morphology of the deposits.

Criswell, C. W.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Stratigraphy of the crater Copernicus

The stratigraphy of copernicus based on its olivine absorption bands is presented. Earth based spectral data are used to develop models that also employ cratering mechanics to devise theories for Copernican geomorphology. General geologic information, spectral information, upper and lower stratigraphic units and a chart for model comparison are included in the stratigraphic analysis.

Paquette, R.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Stratigraphy of the south polar region of Ganymede

A preliminary assessment is made of the stratigraphy and geology in the south polar region of the Jovian satellite, Ganymede. Geologic mapping is based on inspection of Voyager images and compilation on an airbrush base map at a scale of 1:5M. Illumination and resolution vary greatly in the region. Approximately half of the quadripole is beyond the terminator. Low angle illumination over a large part of the area precludes distinction of some units by albedo characteristics. Several types of grooved terrain and groove related terrain occur in the southern polar region. Grooves typically occur in straight to curvilinear sets or lanes. Bright lanes and grooved lanes intersect at high angles outlining polygons of dark cratered terrain. Groove sets exhibit a range of ages as shown by superposition or truncation and by crater superposition ages.

Dehon, R. A.↗