Dr. Paul M. Schenk

Staff Scientist

Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Blvd.,
Houston, Texas 77058

schenk@lpi.usra.edu
281 486-2157

RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

My research efforts focus on the geology and topography of the icy satellites of the outer planets and Mars.  This work began in 1980 with the discovery that large icy plates were rotating laterally on Europa, a result published in Icarus in 1989.  These observations indicate that Europa had a slushy or liquid interior, a topic recently in the news.

Current activities include the study of impact crater morphology on Ganymede and on other icy satellites, including the impact of split comets on the Galilean Satellites.  I have also been using stereo images to map the shape and topography of mountains and shield volcanos on Io, including the largest known landslide in the solar system at Euboea Montes (paper to be published in Science on March 6, 1998), and the flow of lava around topographic obstacles at Ra Patera. Other projects include the topography of lava flows and craters on small icy satellites, and the geology of the odd landscape of Triton, including cantaloupe terrain.

ONGOING PROJECTS

Satellites of the Outer Planets - An Image Tour

Ganymede and Callisto Crater Database

3-D Tour of the Solar System (now available on CD-ROM!)

Manusripts in preparation or in press:

Origins of giant palimpsests on Ganymede - PREPRINT (.PDF)

Topography of Valhalla and Gilgamesh impact basins, Callisto and Ganymede - ABSTRACT (.PDF), FIGURES

Stereo Topography of the Ra Patera volcano, Io - PREPRINT (.PDF), (.TXT), FIGURES

Origin of Mountains on Io by Thrust Faulting and Large-scale Mass Movements - Figures.
This paper will be published in Science magazine on March 6, 1998.

If you do not have ACROBAT READER (for opening PDF files), Click here to download (free)!

SELECTED PAPERS

Schenk, P., and W. McKinnon, 1985. Dark halo craters and the thickness of grooved terrain on Ganymede, J. Geophysical Res., 90, suppl., C775-C783.

Schenk, P., and W. McKinnon, 1989. Fault offsets and lateral crustal movement on Europa: Evidence for a mobile ice shell, Icarus, 79, p. 75-100.

Schenk, P., and M.P.A. Jackson, 1993. Diapirism on Triton: A record of crustal layering and instability, Geology, 21, p. 299-302.

Schenk, P., and J. Moore, 1995. Volcanic constructs on Ganymede and Enceladus, J. Geophysical Res., 100, p. 19009-19022.

Schenk, P., E. Asphaug, W. McKinnon, H. Melosh, and P. Weissman, 1996. Cometary nuclei and tidal disruption: The geologic record of crater chains on Callisto and Ganymede, Icarus, 121, p. 249-274.

Schenk, P., A. McEwen, A. Davies, T. Davenport, K. Jones, and B. Fessler, Geology and topography of Ra Patera, Io, in the Voyager era: Prelude to eruption, Geophysical Research Letters, 24, 2468, 1997.

Schenk, P., and M.H. Bulmer, Thrust faulting, block rotation and large-scale mass movements at Euboea Montes, Io, submitted, Science, October, 1997.

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©Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, 1997