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The Surface of Venus As Revealed by the Venera Landings: Part II

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The Surface of Venus As Revealed by the Venera Landings: Part II The surface of Venus as revealed by the Venera landings: Part II A. T. BASILEVSKY R. O. KUZMIN •The Vemadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR O. V. NIKOLAEVA A. A. PRONIN L. B. RONCA Department of Geology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48202 V. S. AVDUEVSKY G. R. USPENSKY Institute for Space Studies, the USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow, USSR Z. P. CHEREMUKHINA V. V. SEMENCHENKO V. M. LADYGIN Moscow State University, Moscow, USSR ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Observations of the panoramic photographs transmitted by Ven- Part I of this research (Florensky and others, 1977a) described some eras 13 and 14 indicate that many visible rock units are layered and of the instrumentation and some of the results of the Veneras 9 and 10 that at least a portion of the fine material could be the result of in situ missions. Several interpretations were also presented. The purpose of this geomorphic disintegration. Chemical and material property experi- article is to describe some of the results obtained by Veneras 13 and 14 and ments indicate that the chemical composition of the material at the to expand or modify some of the interpretations. Figure 1 shows a locator landing sites is essentially basaltic, that the bearing strength is minimal map of all the landings. Preliminary determinations of the coordinates are (a few kilograms per square centimetre, or a few hundred kilopascals), lat. 7°30'S and long. 303° for Venera 13, lat. 13°15'S and long. 310°9' for that the density is less than 1.5 g/cm3, that the porosity is very high Venera 14. (>50%), and that the electrical resistivity is very low (<90 ohm • m). The television system of Veneras 13 and 14 was an improved version The discussion on the possible geological nature of the surface of of the system used on Veneras 9 and 10, with the difference that, for Venus presented in Part I (Florensky and others, 1977a) is extended in Veneras 13 and 14, each craft had two cameras pointing in opposite light of these new data. Six possible origins of the rock units were directions. For a description of the geometry of the field of view, of the discussed: (1) surface lava extrusion; (2) igneous intrusion, later ex- method of recording, and of the telemetry and enhancement techniques, posed by erosion; (3) pyroclastic fall; (4) impact ejection and lithifica- the reader is referred to Part I. The resolution of the photos of Veneras 13 tion; (5) sedimentary deposits llthified at depth and later exposed by and 14 (-1/5°) is considerably better than that of Veneras 9 and 10 erosion; and (6) surface metamorphism due to unique Venusian sur- (—1/3°). In addition, the cameras of Veneras 13 and 14 were able to face conditions. It is concluded that, although none of the above hy- perform several scans, allowing better computer enhancements. Some of potheses can be conclusively proven or disproven, hypothesis 6 is to be the pictures were obtained using three color filters, but the final processing advanced to the forefront. This is suggested by (1) the low density and has not yet been completed. low bearing strength, (2) the presence of layering, (3) the possible Veneras 13 and 14 also carried instrumentation for geochemical and presence of sedimentary structures in the rock units, such as cross- material-property experiments. This paper will report only the results of bedding and ripple marks, (4) the low electrical resistivity, which may the geochemical experiments and will present the material-property exper- indicate chemical alterations of surface material, and (5) the albedo of iments in more detail. the loose, fine material, which is lower than the albedo of the rock units. This again suggests chemical alterations. DESCRIPTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS Within the context of this hypothesis, the rock units are sedimen- tary or sedimentary-volcanic. Lithification occurred in the past due to Venera 13 Panoramas surface chemical effects. The rock units, analogous with a similar terrestrial phenomenon, can be referred to as "duricrusts" (with the Figure 2 shows the computer-enhanced panoramas. Close to the craft, understanding that the Venusian process is completely different from one can see slab-like rocks of relatively high albedo separated by loose the terrestrial process). Presently, the rock units are undergoing disin- material of lower albedo. This is due to contrast enhancement, as both tegration, indicating that changes have occurred in the surface condi- units have very low albedo (slabs, 5 to 9%; loose material, 3 to 5%) tions at the landing sites. (Selivanov and others, 1983). Scarplets with heights of a few centimetres Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 96, p. 137-144, 9 figs., 3 tables, January 1985. 137 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/96/1/137/3430268/i0016-7606-96-1-137.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 138 BASILEVSKY AND OTHERS Fractures are visible, especially in the isolated slab on the left of the upper photo. Evidence of layering can be found in several places (on the right side of the lower photo and in the bandings of the distant outcrops). In some cases, these bandings resolve into scarplets. On the whole, the rock units appear to be similar to the units photographed (at lower resolu- tion) by Venera 10. The loose material is confined to areas between the rock units and on fractures and depressions on the rock units. The largest fragments are platy and are angular in shape. Fragments smaller than ~5 cm are somewhat rounded. Closer to the supporting ring, there is a narrow zone (—0.5 m wide) where coarser fragments appear to be more common than they are elsewhere. Large blow-ups of the photos suggest that this is a reiil effect and not a resolution-range effect. Figure 3 displays the cumulative diame- ter distribution of the fragments in a far field zone (curve 1) and in the two near field zones (curves 2 and 3). In the upper right corner, the per:entagc of the surface area covered by 2- to 10-cm fragments in a far field zone (column I) is compared with the same percentage in a near field zone (column II). The cumulative distribution of the fragments observed by Venera 9 is also included, although the poorer resolution of Venera 9 photos makes the comparison problematic. There is essentially no differ- ence, at large diameters, between near and far fields, and there is an excess of small particles in the near fields. Presumably, the smaller particles in the far fields are still covered with dust which has been raised by the landing in the near fields. This is also suggested by the spectrophotometer (Moroz and others, 1982), which recorded a cloud of dust that produced a deposit 270° 280° 290° 300° 310° 320° 330° 340° seen in places on the surface of the supporting ring (a similar phenomenon Figure 1. Locator map of the Venera landings. They are located was observed by Veneras 9 and 10). on the eastern flank of an elevated belt consisting of the Beta and Phoebe Region««. Venera 14 Panoramas can be seen. The upper surface of the rock units is subhorizontal, and Figure 4 shows the photos taken from Venera 14. The landing terrain centimetre-scale undulations are apparent (to the left of the trellis girder is composed mainly of the subhorizontal upper surfaces of rock units. and above the lens cover in the upper photo). Apparent striations occur on Unlike the landing sites of Veneras 9, 10, and 13, this site does not have the surface of the slabs (above and to the upper left of the lens cover in the any significant mantle of loose, fine material. Small accumulations of loose lower photo). material are visible in discontinuous shallow depressions, especially at the Figure 2. Venera 13 panoramas. The teeth in the center belong to the supporting ring ;uid are 5 cm apart. The photometric color standard on the right is 40 cm long. The trellis girder (center-left of upper photo) is 60 cm long, and the view-port cover (lower photo) is 20 cm in diameter and 12 cm in height. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/96/1/137/3430268/i0016-7606-96-1-137.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 SURFACE OF VENUS 139 Figure 3. Cumulative distribution of the fragment sizes, in Venera 13 photographs, located in the two zones next to the supporting ring (Curves 2 and 3) and in more distant zones (Curve 1). The insert (upper right) represents the percentage of the surface area covered by 2- to 10-cm fragments in the close-to-the-supporting-ring zones (Column II) and in distant zones (Column I). The difference is explained by disturbances caused by the landing. This indicates the presence of fines in the loose material, easily blown away by air currents. edges of platelets. As in the case of Venera 13, fragments larger than ~5 cm in horizontal dimensions are platy; smaller ones are subrounded. The rock units are layered, and the layers are thin (3 cm or less) in many cases. This is apparent in the upper center of the upper photo and on the left side of the lower photo. The layers are intersected by arcuate and irregular linear fractures. Other Experiments Observations by Veneras 9 and 10 were made to determine the concentrations of potassium, uranium, and thorium. The findings indicate that the surface material is close in composition to that of terrestrial magmatic basic rocks (Surkov and others, 1976).
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