AEOLIAN FEATURES IN THE MEAD AND HESTIA RUPES REGIONS OF VENUS: A COMPARISON TO TERRESTRIAL LONGITUDINAL DUNES

The Mead and Hestia Rupes Regions of Venus ( 55-65°E 14-4°N) exhibit an abundance of aeolian features such as windstreaks, possible yardangs, and possible dunes. Using ArcMAP and Google Earth, linear features originally identified as wind streaks by Greeley et al. (1995) were analyzed and compared to terrestrial longitudinal dunes. The previously mapped windstreaks of these regions were examined due to all other windstreaks originating at topographic highs while also being much smaller than the linear features in these regions. Distances were measured perpendicular to each ridge top to the adjacent ridge and were compared to distances between terrestrial longitudinal dunes in the Western and Simpson deserts of Australia. The distances between the Venusian features were found to fit within the range of distances between dunes in the Western and Simpson deserts. This gives the Venusian features a scale comparable to that of terrestrial longitudinal dunes. Wind directions on the Venusian surface were also assessed by looking at windstreaks on the surface. These streaks showed a wind direction roughly parallel to the direction of the linear features. These correlations give evidence for the possibility that the linear features found in this region of Venus are longitudinal dunes. Based on the abundance of aeolian features in this region, Venus may have had a much more active aeolian past than currently theorized.