Messina Chasma

The Voyager 2 image of Titania. Messina Chasma can be seen in the center.

Messina Chasma is the largest canyon on the surface of the Uranian moon Titania named after a location in William Shakespeare's comedy Much Ado About Nothing.^[1] The 1492 km long chasma is made of two normal faults running NW–SE, which bound a down-dropped crustal block forming a structure called graben.^[2] The canyon cuts impact craters, which probably means that it was formed at a relatively late stage of the moon's evolution,^[3] when the interior of Titania expanded and its ice crust cracked as a result.^[4] Messina Chasma has only few crater superimposed on it, which also implies it is relatively young structure. The chasma was first imaged by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in January 1986.^[2]

References

1. ^ "Titania: Messina Chasmata". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology. http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/3870. Retrieved 2009-06-25. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Smith, B.A.; Soderblom, L.A.; Beebe, A. et al. (1986). "Voyager 2 in the Uranian System: Imaging Science Results". Science 233 (4759): 97–102. Bibcode 1986Sci...233...43S. doi:10.1126/science.233.4759.43. PMID 17812889. 
3. ^ Plescia, J.B. (1987). "Cratering history of the Uranian satellites: Umbriel, Titania and Oberon". Journal of Geophysical Research 92 (A13): 14,918–32. Bibcode 1987JGR....9214918P. doi:10.1029/JA092iA13p14918. 
4. ^ Croft, S.K. (1989). "New geological maps of Uranian satellites Titania, Oberon, Umbriel and Miranda". 20. Lunar and Planetary Sciences Institute, Houston. p. 205C. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1989LPI....20..205C.