Dorsum (astrogeology)

A wrinkle ridge is a type of feature commonly found on lunar maria, or basalt plains. These features are low, sinuous ridges formed on the mare surface that can extend for up to several hundred kilometers. Wrinkle ridges are tectonic features created after the lava cooled and solidified. They frequently outline ring structures buried within the mare, follow circular patterns outlining the mare, or intersect protruding peaks. They are sometimes called ''veins'' due to their resemblance to the veins that protrude from beneath the skin.

Wrinkle ridges are named with the Latin designation ''dorsum'' (plural ''dorsa''). The standard IAU nomenclature uses the names of people (generally scientists) to identify wrinkle ridges on the Moon. For example, the Dorsa Burnet are named for Thomas Burnet, and the Dorsum Owen is named after George Owen of Henllys.

Wrinkle ridges can also be found on Mars, for example in Chryse Planitia, on several of the asteroids that have been visited by spacecraft, on Mercury, and certain moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Although several hypotheses have been advanced as causes of wrinkle ridges, today they are generally considered to be of tectonic origin. They involve folding and faulting. If correctly interpreted as thrust faults, where a rupture occurs and one side of the rupture is pushed on top of the other, they are evidence of compressional stress in planetary crust.

Examples on the Moon

AS15-90-12272.jpg, Lunar crater Krieger and vicinity, showing wrinkle ridges in the surrounding mare and sinuous rilles along the left edge, from Apollo 15
AS15-M-1555.jpg, Dorsum Zirkel in Mare Imbrium, from Apollo 15
AS17-155-23712 - Dorsum Heim.jpg, Oblique view of Dorsum Heim on the Moon, from Apollo 17
File:Bow of wrinkle ridges in central Mare Fecunditatis.png, Dorsa Geikie. LRO mosaic.

Examples on Mars

Solis Dorsa and Betio crater f608a43 f608a45.jpg, Solis Dorsa are an expansive set of parallel wrinkle ridges on Solis Planum on Mars. Viking 1 Oribiter mosaic.
Wikiflaugergues.jpg, Floor and eroded south wall of the crater Flaugergues on Mars. Arrows point to wrinkle ridges.
Viking 418S39 Hesperia.jpg, Wrinkle ridges in Hesperia Planum, Mars, as seen by Viking. The wrinkle ridges trend in different directions, so compressional forces may have changed direction over time.
ESP 052935 1575wrinkletrough.jpg, Trough cutting a wrinkle ridge, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program. Location in the Coprates quadrangle, Mars.
Wrinkle ridge B19 016948 2010 XN 21N027W.jpg, Wrinkle ridge in the Oxia Colles region of Mars

Examples on Mercury

File:Geddes crater EW0221064213G.jpg, Antoniadi Dorsum cuts across the crater Geddes.
File:Odin Planitia EW1014244831G.jpg, The prominent wrinkle ridge across the center is Schiaparelli Dorsum.

See also

* List of features on the Moon
* Planetary nomenclature

References

Notes

* Golombek, M. P., F. S. Anderson, and M. T. Zuber (2001), Martian wrinkle ridge topography: Evidence for subsurface faults from MOLA, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 23,811–23,821, .
* Montési, L. G. J., and M. T. Zuber (2003), Clues to the lithospheric structure of Mars from wrinkle ridge sets and localization instability, J. Geophys. Res., 108(E6), 5048, .
* Watters, T. R. (1988), Wrinkle Ridge Assemblages on the Terrestrial Planets, J. Geophys. Res., 93(B9), 10,236–10,254, .
* Watters, et al., Evidence of Recent Thrust Faulting on the Moon Revealed by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera. ''Science'' 20 August 2010: 936–940.
* Ruj, T., and Kawai, K. (2021). A global investigation of wrinkle ridge formation events; implications towards the thermal evolution of Mars. Icarus, 114625, .

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrinkle-Ridge
Extraterrestrial ridges
Volcanism on the Moon