Rupes (plural ) is the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
word for 'cliff'. It is used in
planetary geology
Planetary geology, alternatively known as astrogeology or exogeology, is a planetary science discipline concerned with the geology of the celestial bodies such as the planets and their moons, asteroids, comets, and meteorites. Although the ge ...
to refer to
escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations.
The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...
s on other worlds. , the
IAU has named 62 such features in the
Solar System
The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...
, on
Mercury (17),
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...
(7), the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...
(8),
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
(23), the asteroids
Vesta (2) and
Lutetia
The Gallo-Roman town of ''Lutetia'' (''Lutetia Parisiorum'' in Latin, in French ''Lutèce'') was the predecessor of the modern-day city of Paris. It was founded in about the middle of the 3rd century BCE by the Parisii, a Gallic tribe. Trac ...
(2), and Uranus's satellites
Miranda (2) and
Titania (1).
How rupes formed is, , a matter of speculation. Compressional
strain from the cooling of the crust of
terrestrial planet
A terrestrial planet, telluric planet, or rocky planet, is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets accepted by the IAU are the inner planets closest to the Sun: Mercury, ...
s and large scale displacement due to impacts are the two dominant theories.
See also
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Rupes on the Earth's moon
*
Rupes on Mercury
*
Rupes on Venus
*
Rousillon Rupes
Rousillon Rupes is a scarp (''rupes'' is Latin for "cliff") on the surface of the Uranian moon Titania named after "Bertram, count of Rousillon" (an Elisabethan English misspelling for Roussillon) in William Shakespeare's comedy All's Well That ...
*
Rupes Tenuis
Rupes Tenuis ( la, thin cliff) is a Martian north polar scarp. It is named after one of the classical albedo features on Mars. Its name was officially approved by IAU in 1988. It extends from latitude 74.94°N to 82.2°N and from longitude 242.1 ...
*
Verona Rupes
Verona Rupes is a cliff on Miranda, a moon of Uranus. It was discovered by the ''Voyager 2'' space probe in January 1986. The cliff face, previously thought to be from high, as of 2016 is estimated to be high, which makes it the tallest known ...
References
Planetary geology
Slope landforms
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