Samarkand Sulci is a region of grooved terrain on the surface of

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

's moon Enceladus. The feature is centered at 30.5° North

Latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...

, 326.8° West

Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east–west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek letter l ...

, and is approximately 383 kilometers long. Samarkand Sulci consists of three parts. The southern and eastern extensions bound

Sarandib Planitia Sarandib Planitia is a region of relatively un-cratered terrain on Saturn's moon Enceladus. It is located at 4.4° North Latitude, 298.0° West Longitude and is approximately 200 km across. From ''Voyager'' images, Sarandib Planitia is cons ...

on its western and northern sides, respectively. The northern portions extends into a region of cratered terrain. Using ''

Voyager 2 ''Voyager 2'' is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere. As a part of the Voyager program, it was launched 16 days before its twin, ''Voyager 1'', on a ...

'' images, Kargel and Pozio (1996) found that the northern and southern/eastern extensions of this feature are likely distinct features with different origins and ages. The portions surrounding Sarandib Planitia were characterized as sinuous "mountainous ridges" 1-1.5 km in height, and lying within relative topographic lows. Kargel and Pozio (1996) suggested that they might be fold belts, similar to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, (french: Appalaches), are a system of mountains in eastern to northeastern North America. The Appalachians first formed roughly 480 million years ago during the Ordovician Period. They ...

. The northern portion of Samarkand Sulci was found to consist of linear

fracture Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...

s, suggesting that rather than a compressional

fold belt Fold, folding or foldable may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Fold'' (album), the debut release by Australian rock band Epicure *Fold (poker), in the game of poker, to discard one's hand and forfeit interest in the current pot *Above ...

, the northern part of Samarkand Sulci may in fact be an

extensional In any of several fields of study that treat the use of signs — for example, in linguistics, logic, mathematics, semantics, semiotics, and philosophy of language — an extensional context (or transparent context) is a syntactic environment in w ...

rift. Based on analysis of crater counts in both areas of Samarkand Sulci, Kargel and Pozio (1996) suggested that the rift formed before the ridges. Recent images by the '' Cassini'' spacecraft show portions of Samarkand Sulci at much higher resolution than in the ''Voyager 2'' images. Numerous parallel ridges are resolved in the southern and eastern extensions of the feature, though some ridges appear chevron shaped. Just as Kargel and Pozio (1996) found parts of this feature lying within topographic lows, sharp scarps bound the ridge belts in several regions. On the far eastern tip of Samarkand Sulci, these scarps begin to converge as the ridge belts disappear, forming narrow canyons. Northern Samarkand Sulci was also observed. This region appears unconsolidated with several craters, like

Ahmad Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

and Peri-Banu, appearing to be cross-cut or even flooded by this portion of Samarkand Sulci. Near the southern end of Samarkand Sulci, curious dark patches, 500–750 m across were observed lying along ridge crests. It is possible these spots may be collapse pits. Samarkand Sulci is named after the country ruled over by

Shah Zaman Zaman Shah Durrani, or Zaman Shah Abdali (Persian: ; 1767 – 1844), was ruler of the Durrani Empire from 1793 until 1801. He was the grandson of Ahmad Shah Durrani and the fifth son of Timur Shah Durrani. An ethnic Pashtun, Zaman Shah became th ...

, brother of Shahryar, in ''

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

''.

References

{{cite journal , author=Jeff Kargel, author2=Stefania Pozio, name-list-style=amp , title=The Volcanic and Tectonic History of Enceladus , journal=Icarus , date=1996 , volume=119 , pages=385–404 , doi=10.1006/icar.1996.0026 , issue=2 , bibcode=1996Icar..119..385K Surface features of Enceladus