A Workshop on Desert Processes, September 24-28, 1984; report on the conference
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Circular↗
Geology topics
John F. McCauley
Publications and source records attributed to John F. McCauley.
The geologic history of the Moon
More than two decades of study have established the major features of lunar geologic style and history. The most numerous and significant landforms belong to a size-morphology series of simple craters, complex craters, and ringed basins that were formed by impacts. Each crater and basin is the source of primary ejecta and secondary craters that, collectively, cover the entire terra. The largest impacts thinned, weakened, and redistributed feldspathic terracrustal material averaging about 75 km in thickness. Relatively small volumes of basalt, generated by partial remelting of mantle material, were erupted through the thin subbasin and subcrater crust to form the maria that cover 16 percent of the lunar surface. Tectonism has modified the various stratigraphic deposits relatively little; most structures are confined to basins and large craters. This general geologic style, basically simple though complex in detail, has persisted longer than 4 aeons (1 aeon = 10 9 yr). Impacts began to leave a visible record about 4.2 aeons ago, after the crust and mantle had differentiated and the crust had solidified. At least 30 basins and 100 times that many craters larger than 30 km in diameter were formed before a massive impact created the Nectaris basin about 3.92 aeons ago. Impacts continued during the ensuing Nectarian Period at a lesser rate, whereas volcanism left more traces than during pre-Nectarian time. The latest basin-forming impacts created the giant and still-conspicuous Imbrium and Orientale basins during the Early Imbrian Epoch, between 3.85 and 3.80 aeons ago. The rate of crater-forming impacts continued to decline during the Imbrian Period. Beginning in the Late Imbrian Epoch, mare-basalt flows remained exposed because they were no longer obscured by many large impacts. The Eratosthenian Period (3.2-1.1 aeons ago) and the Copernican Period (1.1 aeons ago to present) were times of lesser volcanism and a still lower, probably constant impact rate. Copernican impacts created craters whose surfaces have remained brighter and topographically crisper than those of the more ancient lunar features.
Professional Paper↗
Shuttle imaging radar: Physical controls on signal penetration and subsurface scattenng in the Eastern Sahara
SIR-A signal penetration and subsurface backscatter within the upper meter or so of the sediment blanket in the Eastern Sahara of southern Egypt and northern Sudan are enhanced both by radar sensor parameters and by the physical and chemical characteristics of eolian and alluvial materials. Interpretation of SIR-A images by McCauley et al. [1], [2] dramatically changed previous concepts of the role that fluvial processes have played over the past 10000 to 30000000 years in shaping this now extremely flat, featureless, and hyperarid landscape. In the present paper we summarize the near-surface stratigraphy, the electrical properties of materials, and the types of radar interfaces found to be responsible for different classes of SIR-A tonal response. The dominant factors related to efficient microwave signal penetration into the sediment blanket include a) favorable distribution of particle sizes, b) extremely low moisture content and c) reduced geometric scattering at the SIR-A frequency (1.3 GHz). The depth of signal penetration that results in a recorded backscatter, here called "radar imaging depth," was documented in the field to be a maximum of 1.5 m, or 0.25 of the calculated "skin depth," for the sediment blanket. Radar imaging depth is estimated to be between 2 and 3 m for active sand dune materials. Diverse permittivity interfaces and volume scatterers within the shallow subsurface are responsible for most of the observed backscatter not directly attributable to grazing outcrops.
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing↗
Paleodrainages of the Eastern Sahara-The radar rivers revisited (SIR-A/B Implications for a Mid-Tertiary Trans-Afnrcan Drainage System)
A complex history of Cenozoic fluvial activity in the presently hyperarid Eastern Sahara is inferred from SIR data and postflight field investigations in southwest Egypt and northwest Sudan. SIR images were coregistered with Landsat and existing maps as a guide to exploration of the buried paleodrainages (radar rivers) first discovered by SIR-A. Field observations explain the radar responses of three types of radar rivers, RR-1, RR-2, and RR-3. RR-1 (broad, aggraded valleys or basins filled with alluvium) generally give a dark response relative to the surrounding radar-bright tone of the wind-roughened, discontinuously sand-covered bedrock of the remnant interfluves. The alluvial fill in some of the RR-1 valleys gives a locally intermediate to bright response where cemented by diagenetic CaCO3 (caliche). The RR-2 type (braided channels inset in the RR-1 valleys) are filled with noncalichified, loose sediment, and are visible on SIR because of the "caliche effect"-the dark response of unconsolidated alluvium in the inset channels contrasts with the brighter response of calichified alluvium in the broad valleys. The third type, RR-3 (narrow, long, bedrock-incised channels), which are partly visible on the ground and on Landsat in areas where the sand sheet is patchy, are conspicuous on SIR because the dark response of their unconsolidated channel fill contrasts with the brighter response of the surrounding bedrock. Disconformably overlying and concealing the RR-1 valleys, the RR- 2 channels, and parts of the RR-3 channels are eolian sand-sheetsheet de- deposits, which in turn are locally overridden by trains of barchan dunes.
IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing↗
SHUTTLE IMAGING RADAR PROVIDES FRAMEWORK FOR SUBSURFACE GEOLOGIC EXPLORATION IN EGYPT AND SUDAN.
Shuttle Imaging Radar provides a pictorial framework to guide exploration for mineral resources (potential placers), groundwater sources, and prehistoric archaeological sites in the Western Desert of Egypt and Sudan. Documented penetration by the SIR-A signal of dry surficial sediment to depths of a meter or more revealed bedrock geologic features and networks of former stream valleys otherwise concealed beneath windblown sand, alluvium, and colluvial deposits. 'Radar units' mapped on SIR-A images according to relative brightness and degree of mottling correspond to subsurface geologic and topographic features identified in more than 50 test pits. Petrologic examination of pit samples confirms that a variety of depositional environments existed in this now hyper-arid region before it was mantled by windblown sand sheets and dunes. Wet sand was discovered in two buried valleys shown on the radar images and located in the field with the aid of co-registered maps and Landsat images, and a satellite navigation device. Buried valleys whose streams once traversed mineralized zones are potential sites of placers (gold, tin).
Conference Paper↗
Preliminary mariner 9 report on the geology of Mars
Mariner 9 pictures indicate that the surface of Mars has been shaped by impact, volcanic, tectonic, erosional and depositional activity. The moonlike cratered terrain, identified as the dominant surface unit from the Mariner 6 and 7 flyby data, has proven to be less typical of Mars than previously believed, although extensive in the mid- and high-latitude regions of the southern hemisphere. Martian craters are highly modified but their size-frequency distribution and morphology suggest that most were formed by impact. Circular basins encompassed by rugged terrain and filled with smooth plains material are recognized. These structures, like the craters, are more modified than corresponding features on the Moon and they exercise a less dominant influence on the regional geology. Smooth plains with few visible craters fill the large basins and the floors of larger craters; they also occupy large parts of the northern hemisphere where the plains lap against higher landforms. The middle northern latitudes of Mars from 90 to 150† longitude contain at least four large shield volcanoes each of which is about twice as massive as the largest on Earth. Steep-sided domes with summit craters and large, fresh-appearing volcanic craters with smooth rims are also present in this region. Multiple flow structures, ridges with lobate flanks, chain craters, and sinuous rilles occur in all regions, suggesting widespread volcanism. Evidence for tectonic activity postdating formation of the cratered terrain and some of the plains units is abundant in the equatorial area from 0 to 120° longitude.Some regions exhibit a complex semiradial array of graben that suggest doming and stretching of the surface. Others contain intensity faulted terrain with broader, deeper graben separated by a complex mosaic of flat-topped blocks. An east-west-trending canyon system about 100–200 km wide and about 2500 km long extends through the Coprates-Eos region. The canyons have gullied walls indicative of extensive headward erosion since their initial formation. Regionally depressed areas called chaotic terrain consist of intricately broken and jumbled blocks and appear to result from breaking up and slumping of older geologic units. Compressional features have not been identified in any of the pictures analyzed to data. Plumose light and dark surface markings can be explained by eolian transport. Mariner 9 has thus revealed that Mars is a complex planet with its own distinctive geologic history and that it is less primitive than the Moon.
Icarus↗
Prototype and preliminary geologic mapping of Mars from Mariner 6 & 7 data; parts 1, 2 and 3
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Open-File Report↗
Lunar terrain mapping and relative-roughness analysis
Terrain maps of the equatorial zone (long 70° E.-70° W. and lat 10° N-10° S.) were prepared at scales of 1:2,000,000 and 1:1,000,000 to classify lunar terrain with respect to roughness and to provide a basis for selecting sites for Surveyor and Apollo landings as well as for Ranger and Lunar Orbiter photographs. The techniques that were developed as a result of this effort can be applied to future planetary exploration. By using the best available earth-based observational data and photographs 1:1,000,000-scale and U.S. Geological Survey lunar geologic maps and U.S. Air Force Aeronautical Chart and Information Center LAC charts, lunar terrain was described by qualitative and quantitative methods and divided into four fundamental classes: maria, terrae, craters, and linear features. Some 35 subdivisions were defined and mapped throughout the equatorial zone, and, in addition, most of the map units were illustrated by photographs. The terrain types were analyzed quantitatively to characterize and order their relative-roughness characteristics. Approximately 150,000 east-west slope measurements made by a photometric technique (photoclinometry) in 51 sample areas indicate that algebraic slope-frequency distributions are Gaussian, and so arithmetic means and standard deviations accurately describe the distribution functions. The algebraic slope-component frequency distributions are particularly useful for rapidly determining relative roughness of terrain. The statistical parameters that best describe relative roughness are the absolute arithmetic mean, the algebraic standard deviation, and the percentage of slope reversal. Statistically derived relative-relief parameters are desirable supplementary measures of relative roughness in the terrae. Extrapolation of relative roughness for the maria was demonstrated using Ranger VII slope-component data and regional maria slope data, as well as the data reported here. It appears that, for some morphologically homogeneous mare areas, relative roughness can be extrapolated to the large scales from measurements at small scales.
Professional Paper↗