Harran Sulci
Encyclopedia
Harran Sulci is a region of grooved terrain on the surface of Saturn
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn is named after the Roman god Saturn, equated to the Greek Cronus , the Babylonian Ninurta and the Hindu Shani. Saturn's astronomical symbol represents the Roman god's sickle.Saturn,...

's moon Enceladus
Enceladus (moon)
Enceladus is the sixth-largest of the moons of Saturn. It was discovered in 1789 by William Herschel. Until the two Voyager spacecraft passed near it in the early 1980s very little was known about this small moon besides the identification of water ice on its surface...

. The feature is centered at 26.7° North Latitude
Latitude
In geography, the latitude of a location on the Earth is the angular distance of that location south or north of the Equator. The latitude is an angle, and is usually measured in degrees . The equator has a latitude of 0°, the North pole has a latitude of 90° north , and the South pole has a...

, 237.6° West Longitude
Longitude
Longitude is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east-west position of a point on the Earth's surface. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees, minutes and seconds, and denoted by the Greek letter lambda ....

 and is approximately 276 kilometers long. Harran Sulci bounds Diyar Planitia
Diyar Planitia
Diyar Planitia is a region of relatively un-cratered terrain on Saturn's moon Enceladus. It is located at 0.5° North Latitude, 239.7° West Longitude and is approximately 311 km across....

 to the north and east.

Using Voyager 2
Voyager 2
The Voyager 2 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space...

images, Kargel and Pozio (1996) characterized Harran Sulci as consisting of 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
Fold (geology)
The term fold is used in geology when one or a stack of originally flat and planar surfaces, such as sedimentary strata, are bent or curved as a result of permanent deformation. Synsedimentary folds are those due to slumping of sedimentary material before it is lithified. Folds in rocks vary in...

, similar to North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

's Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...

.

Recent images by the Cassini spacecraft show of Harran Sulci at much higher resolution than in the Voyager 2 images. The feature has a convex cross-section with numerous ridges running down the length of the feature. Like Samarkand Sulci
Samarkand Sulci
Samarkand Sulci is a region of grooved terrain on the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The feature is centered at 30.5° North Latitude, 326.8° West Longitude and is approximately 383 kilometers long. Samarkand Sulci consists of three parts. The southern and eastern extensions bound Sarandib...

, tall scarps facing the feature separate the surrounding cratered terrain to the north, and Diyar Planitia to the south, from Harran Sulci. Near the western end of the feature, two deep fracture were observed running perpendicular to Harran. Similar, but smaller, fractures are seen running perpendicular to Samarkand Sulci, suggesting that a period of extension accompanies the later stages of formation (or occurs after formation) of these ridge belts.

Harran Sulci is named after the city in Arabian Nights where Khudadad's father ruled.
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