STS-110 Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Debriefing with Crewmembers
May 28, 2002

GEOLOGY AND LAKES
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View larger image for STS110-706-54
STS110-706-54
Mendoza, Argentina: The Andes continue to rise and thrust faults move successive slabs of rock and sediment eastward, over the adjacent basin. Traces of active faults, such as the one that produced an earthquake which destroyed many buildings in Mendoza in 1985, can be seen to pass from the valley floor straight through the city center.
View larger image for STS110-706-57
STS110-706-57
San Juan, Argentina: In 1944 San Juan was virtually leveled by an earthquake, produced by the ongoing collision of the South American and Pacific tectonic plates and the growth of the Andes. Just north of the city, the traces of such active faults can be seen to cut the valley floor sediments and to continue southward beneath the town. Relief on these young fault scarps ranges from about a foot to tens of feet. The narrow ranges of sedimentary rock lying west of San Juan consist of rock layers that were part of North America until about 460 million years ago.
View larger image for STS110-742-50
STS110-742-50
Lake Argentino, Lower Argentina: This picturesque freshwater lake is fed by snow and glacier melt water from the Southern Patagonian Ice Field to the west (under clouds). Note the two largest glaciers: Upsala entering from the north and Perito Moreno from the south.
View larger image for STS110-718-67
STS110-718-67
SE Caspian Sea, with Kara Bogaz Gulf, full.
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STS61A-200-34
Kara Bogaz Gulf, empty (1985 COMPARATIVE).
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STS110-707-35
Tien Shan Mts., Central Asia: Snow and shadows emphasize the faults and tilted rock layers in the Tien Shan. One of the most obvious products of the collision of India with Eurasia is the Himalayan mountain chain. The Tien Shan are also rising now, in response to that same convergence of continental masses -- one of the distant inboard effects of the collision.
View larger image for STS110-740-69
STS110-740-69
SW Baykal, Hövsgöl rift, and a newly imaged rift valley west of Hövsgöl.
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STS110-740-80
Lake Hövsgöl, Mongolia: At 5,400 feet, this large lake in northern Mongolia still remains solidly frozen from this winter. Note the shadows cast on the ice by the rugged mountains near the western shore.
View larger image for STS110-710-40
STS110-710-40
Lake Achit, Mongolia: This freshwater lake is situated at over 4,700 feet of elevation in an arid basin in Western Mongolia. Both thawing and possible refreezing are evident in this photo.
View larger image for STS110-718-20
STS110-718-20
SW U.S.A. and N. Mexico: Several major physiographic and tectonic provinces are embraced by this fine view: the forested Mogollon Rim defines the edge of the relatively flat-lying Colorado Plateau. Between there and the Sierra Nevada are the stubby ranges and light-colored basins of the Basin and Range Province, where the crust of the continent is being stretched. The Gulf of California marks the location of a rift zone, and farther north is the San Andreas fault system -- a transform fault boundary between the North American and Pacific tectonic plates.STS110-718-28=Colorado Plateau, Uinta Mts., Sangre de Cristo, Jemez Mts., Rio Grande rift. As with 718-20, this panorama takes in several physiographic and tectonic elements: the Colorado Plateau, ranges of the Rocky Mt. chain (Uinta Mts., Sangre de Cristo), and the Rio Grande rift. The Jemez volcanic complex (near center) occupies the intersection of a Rio Grande rift fault and transverse fault zone that crosses the rift.
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