Dr. Paul M. Schenk

Planetary Geology
E-mail: schenk@lpi.usra.edu

My work here at LPI centers on elucidating the geology and topography of the surfaces of the satellites of the outer planets, with special emphasis on my personal favorites Io and Europa (plus some Ganymede). My work requires high quality topographic maps, but these must be derived. To that end I have developed and continue to improve two techniques for topographic mapping from Voyager and Galileo images here at LPI. These are stereo (3-D) image mapping and two-dimensional photoclinometry (shape-from-shading). Using these methods, I have been able to map more than 25% of the surfaces of the Galilean satellites of Jupiter and large areas of the outer icy satellites.

Of high interest is the unexpectedly rugged topographic relief on Europa and the shapes of impact craters on Europa and the icy satellites in general. The goal is to understand the geophysical properties of and geologic processes occurring within Europa's floating ice shell. These studies have already shown that Europa's floating ice shell may be more than 20 km thick. Further studies will hopefully refine this number and tell us whether the thickness has changed over time. Topographic mapping of Io is focused on determining volcanic slopes and mountain topography in order to constrain flow rheologies and mountain formation processes on this intensely volcanic world.

Dr. Schenk's Personal Web page