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Amphitheater-Headed Valley (Titan)

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

Valley characterized by theater-shaped alcoves on Titan.

Category

A type of fluvial valley on Titan.

Related Terms

Sapping channel (interpretation).

Description

Generally short and broad, deeply incised valley, which develops amphitheater-shaped heads. They display low albedo on brighter terrain.

Interpretation

Low albedo of valleys is thought to be due to the accumulation of hydrocarbon residue in the valleys. Brighter terrain is thought to be composed of water ice with varying amounts of impurities presumably “washed clean” of hydrocarbons (Griffith et al. 1991; Perron et al. 2006).

Formation

  1. (1)

    Sapping: On Earth, springs from subsurface water may erode loose sediment by underground seepage erosion, causing sapping (undercutting and failure of the ground surface), leading to upslope retreat and the formation of short, stubby tributaries with amphitheater-shaped heads and strong structural control of valley alignment and planform (sapping valley) (e.g., Schumm et al. 1995;...

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References

  • Griffith CA, Owen T, Wagener R (1991) Titan’s surface and troposphere, investigated with ground-based, near-infrared observations. Icarus 93:362–378

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  • Lamb MP, Howard AD, Johnson J, Whipple KX, Dietrich WE, Perron JT (2006) Can springs cut canyons into rock? J Geophys Res 111:E07002. doi:10.1029/2005JE002663

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  • Langhans MH, Jaumann R, Stephan K et al (2012) Titan’s fluvial valleys: morphology, distribution, and spectral properties. Planet Space Sci 60:34–51

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  • Malaska M, Radebaugh J, Lorenz R, Mitchell K, Farr T, Stofan E (2010) Identification of Karst-like terrain on Titan from valley analysis. 41st Lunar Planet Sci Conf, abstract #1544, Houston

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  • Perron JT, Lamb MP, Koven CD, Fung IY, Yager E, Ádámkovics M (2006) Valley formation and methane precipitation rates on Titan. J Geophys Res 111:E11001. doi:10.1029/2005JE002602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schumm SA, Boyd KF, Wolff CG, Spitz WJ (1995) A ground-water sapping landscape in the Florida Panhandle. Geomorphology 12:281–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stofan ER et al (2007) The lakes of Titan. Nature 445:61–64

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  • Tomasko MG et al (2005) Rain, winds and haze during the Huygens probe’s descent to Titan’s surface. Nature 438:765–778

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Ames Research Center/NPP, Moffett Field, CA, 94035, USA

    Henrik Hargitai

Authors
  1. Henrik Hargitai
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Henrik Hargitai .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Ames Research Center/NPP, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Henrik Hargitai

  2. Konkoly Thege Miklos Astronomical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Ákos Kereszturi

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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Hargitai, H. (2015). Amphitheater-Headed Valley (Titan). In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_331

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