Finding Order in Chaos: Quantitative Predictors of Chaos Terrain Morphology on Europa.

ABSTRACT: The mechanisms for chaos terrain formation on Europa have long been a source of debate in the scientific community. There exist numerous theoretical and numerical models for chaos formation, but to date there has been a lack of quantifiable observations that can be used to constrain models and permit comparison to the outputs of these chaos models. Here, we use mapping and statistical analysis to develop a quantitative description of chaos terrain and their observed morphologies. For nine chaos features, we map every block, or region of pre-existing terrain within disrupted matrix. We demonstrate that chaos terrains follow a continuous spectrum of morphologies between two endmembers, platy and knobby. We find that any given chaos terrain's morphology can be quantified by means of the linea

SUBMITTER: Leonard EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9287068 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature