Facts about Miranda's Canyon System
- 10
Miranda's diverse terrain includes coronae, which are circular to oval structures thought to represent regions of upwelling and freezing of cryomagma that created localized dome-like features distinct from the canyon system's linear fractures.
- 09
Miranda's heavily fractured terrain contains intersecting canyon systems with fault scarps displaying multiple generations of brittle fracturing, suggesting the moon underwent repeated cycles of internal stress and structural adjustment following its violent reassembly.
- 08
Approximately 60 percent of Miranda's surface displays heavily cratered terrain interspersed with smooth plains, indicating multiple geological episodes of resurfacing beyond the initial catastrophic reassembly.
- 07
Voyager 2's 1986 flyby revealed that Miranda's canyons display extreme structural diversity, with some valleys showing depths exceeding 10 kilometers and widths varying from narrow slots to broad troughs spanning over 100 kilometers.
- 06
Ridges within Miranda's canyon system display linear patterns suggesting they formed through extensional tectonics as the moon's icy crust fractured and pulled apart following reassembly from catastrophic fragmentation.
- 05
Cryovolcanism likely shaped Miranda's canyon system, as water-ice eruptions could have carved and modified the deep fractures visible across the moon's fractured surface.
- 04
Impact basins on Miranda cover approximately 40 percent of the moon's surface, indicating an extraordinarily intense bombardment history relative to other icy moons in the outer solar system.
- 03
Verona Rupes, a cliff on Miranda's surface, plunges approximately 20 kilometers in a nearly vertical drop, making it potentially the highest known escarpment in the entire solar system.
- 02
Miranda's chaotic terrain suggests the moon experienced a catastrophic collision that nearly shattered it around 4 billion years ago, with fragments reassembling into its present jumbled surface.
- 01
The canyon system on Miranda, Uranus's moon, contains scarps reaching 20 kilometers high, making them among the tallest known cliffs in the solar system.