computer science

Linear ridge networks

Linear ridge networks is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Linear ridge networks rather than just read about it. In short: Linear ridge networks are found in various places on Mars, especially in and around craters. These features have also been called "polygonal ridge networks", "boxwork ridges", and "reticulate ridges".

Key takeaways

Linear ridge networks belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Linear ridge networks to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Linear ridge networks from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Linear ridge networks are found in various places on Mars, especially in and around craters. These features have also been called "polygonal ridge networks", "boxwork ridges", and "reticulate ridges". Ridges often appear as mostly straight segments that intersect in a lattice-like manner. They are hundreds of meters long, tens of meters high, and several meters wide. It is thought that impacts created fractures in the surface, these fractures later acted as channels for fluids. Fluids cemented the structures. With the passage of time, surrounding material was eroded away, thereby leaving hard ridges behind. It is reasonable to think that on Mars impacts broke the ground with cracks since faults are often formed in impact craters on Earth. One could guess that these ridge networks were dikes, but dikes would go more or less in the same direction, as compared to these ridges that have a large variety of orientations. Since the ridges occur in locations with clay, these formations could serve as a marker for clay which requires water for its formation. Water here could have supported past life in these locations. Clay may also preserve fossils or other traces of past life. These ridges could be formed by large impacts that produced fractures, faults, or dikes made up of melted rock and/or crushed rock (breccia). One formation mechanism proposed by Quinn and Ehlmann in 2017 was that sediment was deposited and eventually the sediment underwent diagenesis which caused a loss of volume and fractures. After erosion exposed the fractures, they were filled with minerals possibly by acid-sulfate fluids. More erosion removed softer materials and left the more resistant ridges behind. If the impact-caused dike is made of purely melted rock from the heat of the impact, it is called a pseudotachylite . Also, hydrothermalism may have been involved due to the heat generated during impacts. Strong evidence for hydrothermalism was reported by a team of researchers studying Auki Crater. This crater contains ridges that may have been produced after fractures formed with an impact. Using instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter they found the minerals smectite, silica, zeolite, serpentine, carbonate, and chlorite that are common in impact-induced hydrothermal systems on Earth. Other evidence of post-impact hydrothermal systems on Mars from other scientists who studied other Martian craters. Because ridges seem to be found in older crust only, it is believed that they occurred early in the history of Mars when there were more and larger asteroids striking the planet. These early impacts may have caused the early crust to be full of interconnected channels. These networks have been found many regions of Mars including in Arabia Terra (Arabia quadrangle), northern Meridiani Planum, Solis Planum, Noachis Terra (Noachis quadrangle), Atlantis Chaos, and Nepenthes Mensa (Mare Tyrrhenum quadrangle). A somewhat different ridge formation has been discovered in the Eastern Medusae Fossae Formation; these dark ridges can be 50 meters in height and erode into dark boulders. It has been suggested that there are from lava filling fractures in the Medusae Fossae Formation which is surrounded by lava flows.

Linear ridge networks in Mare Tyrrhenum quadrangle Some of these may be from hydrothermal systems produced after an impact.

Linear ridge networks in Casius quadrangle

Linear ridge networks in Syrtis Major quadrangle

Linear ridge networks in Phaethontis quadrangle

Linear ridge networks in Amazonis quadrangle

Linear ridge networks in Arabia quadrangle

Linear ridge networks in Arcadia quadrangle

See also Craters Dike (geology) Geology of Mars

References

External links Zooniverse - Project - Planet four ridges : help scientists exploring Mars by discovering networks of polygonal ridges Kerber, L., et al. 2017. Polygonal ridge networks on Mars: Diversity of morphologies and the special case of the Eastern Medusae Fossae Formation. Icarus. Volume 281. Pages 200-219

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Linear ridge networks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Linear ridge networks claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Linear ridge networks before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Linear ridge networks ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Linear ridge networks

In research: Linear ridge networks appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Linear ridge networks in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Linear ridge networks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geology of Mars, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Linear ridge networks outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Linear ridge networks in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Linear ridge networks means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Linear ridge networks out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Linear ridge networks in simple terms?

Why does Linear ridge networks matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Linear ridge networks?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Linear ridge networks.