HR: 0800h
AN: ED51A-0001    [Abstracts]
TI: Cratons are from Earth, Planum are from Venus
AU: * Cooper, C M
EM: cmcooper@rice.edu
AF: Rice University, Department of Earth Science 6100 Main St MS-126, Houston, TX 77005 United States
AU: Lenardic, A
EM: adrian@rice.edu
AF: Rice University, Department of Earth Science 6100 Main St MS-126, Houston, TX 77005 United States
AU: Moresi, L
EM: louis.moresi@sci.monash.edu
AF: Monash University, School of Mathematical Sciences Building 28, Victoria, 3800 Australia
AB: Both the Earth and Venus exhibit ancient features that are associated with long-term stability from deformation after their initial formation. On the Earth, these features are referred to as cratons. On Venus, a classic example of such a feature is Lakshmi Planum, a large plateau that sits 4 km above the surface. Both cratons and the Lakshmi Planum have been proposed to form through some form of crustal thickening over mantle downwellings, though the physical viability of these models have not been tested. Here we present the work of numerical simulations and scaling analysis, which suggest that the formation and preservation of such features can be achieved through crustal thickening via localized deformation (i.e., thrust stacking) even in the presence of a high viscosity crust, which would inhibit viscous deformation. We choose to present this work in such a way that will highlight the similarities and differences between the two formation histories using an alternative poster format.
DE: 0800 EDUCATION
SC: Education and Human Resourcese [ED]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting