Valentina Galluzzi

Dr. Valentina Galluzzi

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 100 Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

15Years (2012-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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16 June 2016 in Journal of Maps
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
VGValentina Galluzzi
Valentina Galluzzi
LGL. Guzzetta
L. Guzzetta
LFLuigi Ferranti
Luigi Ferranti
GAG. Di Achille
G. Di Achille
DRD. A. Rothery
D. A. Rothery
PPP. Palumbo
P. Palumbo
Mercury’s quadrangle H02 ‘Victoria’ is located in the planet’s northern hemisphere and lies between latitudes 22.5° N and 65° N, and between longitudes 270° E and 360° E. This quadrangle covers 6.5% of the planet’s surface with a total area of almost 5 million km2. Our 1:3,000,000-scale geologic map of the quadrangle was produced by photo-interpretation of remotely sensed orbital images captured by the MESSENGER spacecraft. Geologic contacts were drawn between 1:300,000 and 1:600,000 mapping scale and constitute the boundaries of intercrater, intermediate and smooth plains units; in addition, three morpho-stratigraphic classes of craters larger than 20 km were mapped. The geologic map reveals that this area is dominated by Intercrater Plains encompassing some almost-coeval, probably younger, Intermediate Plains patches and interrupted to the north-west, north-east and east by the Calorian Northern Smooth Plains. This map represents the first complete geologic survey of the Victoria quadrangle at this scale, and an improvement of the existing 1:5,000,000 Mariner 10-based map, which covers only 36% of the quadrangle.

17 September 2018 in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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ALALICE LUCCHETTI
ALICE LUCCHETTI
Maurizio PajolaMaurizio Pajola
Maurizio Pajola
VGValentina Galluzzi
Valentina Galluzzi
LGL. Giacomini
L. Giacomini
CCCristian Carli
Cristian Carli
PPP. Palumbo
P. Palumbo
We perform a detailed geomorphological and compositional analysis on three craters hosting hollows located in the Victoria and Kuiper Quadrangles of Mercury. Based on Mercury Dual Imaging System data, high‐resolution detailed geomorphological mapping is provided in order to fully characterize the geological framework where hollows formed. In addition, we apply an unsupervised spectral clustering, based on a K‐mean algorithm, to separate in clusters our data sets. The comparison between the spectral and the well‐defined geomorphological units reveals a spatially coherent distribution. In particular, all hollows are uniquely identified by a well‐defined spectrum showing a wide absorption band between 0.558 and 0.828, with a possible hint of absorption toward 1 μm. Our analysis suggests that the composition of hollows may be characterized by a mixture of different minerals contributing to the absorptions found in our spectra. Indeed, sulfides alone (CaS, MnS, and MgS) cannot explain the spectrum behavior of hollows, even if the mechanism forming hollows likely involves the loss of volatiles from the surface. Hence, we have to consider bedrock‐forming material as partial responsible of the absorptions. For the studied hollows we suggest that the bedrock‐forming minerals are pyroxenes presenting transitional elements, like Cr, Ti, and Ni in substitution of Mg and/or Fe. Therefore, we suggest that the spectral characteristics of hollows are related to both remnant material produced by devolatilization process and to bedrock in which the hollows formed.

20 October 2018 in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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LHL. L. Hood
L. L. Hood
JOJ. S. Oliveira
J. S. Oliveira
VGValentina Galluzzi
Valentina Galluzzi
DRD. A. Rothery
D. A. Rothery
One hundred six low‐altitude passes of magnetometer data from the last 2 months of the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission have been applied to produce a map of the crustal magnetic field at a constant altitude of 40 km covering latitudes of 35–75∘ N and longitudes of 270–90∘ E. Some anomalies correlate significantly with impact basins/craters (e.g., Rustaveli and Vyasa), while other basins/craters have no obvious anomalies. A possible interpretation that is consistent with lunar evidence is that some impactors delivered more ferromagnetic Fe–Ni metal to the interior subsurfaces and ejecta fields of the craters/basins that they produced. The amount of metallic iron that could plausibly be delivered is limited by the diameter and mass of an impactor that would yield a crater with observed diameters (e.g., 200 km for Rustaveli). This in turn limits the maximum amplitude of anomalies that could be induced by impactor‐added iron in the present‐day Mercury global field to relatively low values. It is therefore concluded that if impactor‐added iron is the source of the observed crater‐associated anomalies, then they must be almost entirely a consequence of ancient remanent magnetization. A broad magnetic anomaly occurs over the northern rise, a topographically high region with an associated strong free air gravity anomaly. A possible interpretation of the latter anomaly is that an early major impact preconditioned the region for a later mantle uplift event.

8 March 2017 in Journal of Maps
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
LGLaura Guzzetta
Laura Guzzetta
VGValentina Galluzzi
Valentina Galluzzi
LFLuigi Ferranti
Luigi Ferranti
PPPasquale Palumbo
Pasquale Palumbo
By using images acquired by the Mercury dual imaging system (MDIS) on-board the MESSENGER spacecraft during 2008–2015 and available DTMs, a new 1:3,000,000-scale geological map of the Shakespeare quadrangle of Mercury has been compiled. The quadrangle is located between latitudes 22.5°–65.0°N and longitudes 270.0°–180.0°E and covers an area of about 5 million km2. The mapping was based on photo-interpretation performed on a reference monochromatic basemap of reflectance at 166 m/pixel resolution. The geological features were digitized within a geographic information system with a variable mapping scale between 1:300,000 and 1:600,000. This quadrangle is characterized by the occurrence of three main types of plains materials and four basin materials (pertaining to the Caloris basin), whose geologic boundaries have been here redefined compared to the previous map of the quadrangle. The stratigraphic relationships between the craters were based on three main degradation morphologies. Furthermore, previously unmapped tectonic landforms were detected and interpreted as thrusts or wrinkle ridges.

16 October 2019 in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
VGValentina Galluzzi
Valentina Galluzzi
LFLuigi Ferranti
Luigi Ferranti
MMM. Massironi
M. Massironi
LGLorenza Giacomini
Lorenza Giacomini
LGL. Guzzetta
L. Guzzetta
PPP. Palumbo
P. Palumbo
Three nonparallel fault systems occur in the Victoria quadrangle of Mercury. The most prominent system (Victoria system) includes the NNW‐SSE trending Victoria Rupes‐Endeavour Rupes‐Antoniadi Dorsum (VEA) array, one of the major fault alignments on the planet, and shorter parallel fault arrays. West and northwest of the Victoria system, two additional fault systems with NE‐SW (Larrocha system) and NW‐SE (Carnegie system) trends, are found. The timing analysis reveals that the three systems are coeval and were active until ~3.7 Ga. Measures of rim offset within faulted craters on the VEA array and on Carnegie Rupes segment of the Carnegie system were used to derive the kinematics of faults and to perform a finite stress inversion, which provides an ENE‐WSW trending regional shortening axis. Results of the stress inversion and age relationships, together with geometrical and morpho‐structural observations, suggest that the NE‐SW and NW‐SE systems acted as right‐transcurrent and left‐transpressional, respectively, at the time when the computed strain field was active. The distribution of the three systems spatially coincides with the boundaries of the high‐Mg region and of other regional geochemical terranes. Lateral geomechanical variation of the crust combined with tidal despinning and global contraction processes drove the localization and slip pattern of faults in a kinematically consistent displacement field. Moreover, crustal heterogeneities controlled the lateral changes in density and spacing of fault segments along the VEA. Following the demise of faulting, the established lateral variation of geometry along the VEA favored the growth of volcanic vents at high‐permeability segment boundaries.

1 January 2019 in Planetary and Space Science
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
Maurizio PajolaMaurizio Pajola
Maurizio Pajola
RPRiccardo Pozzobon
Riccardo Pozzobon
ALALICE LUCCHETTI
ALICE LUCCHETTI
SRSandro Rossato
Sandro Rossato
EBEmanuele Baratti
Emanuele Baratti
GCGabriele Cremonese
Gabriele Cremonese