Roncevaux Terra

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Roncevaux Terra (with part of Cassini Regio at left), imaged by the Cassini orbiter

Roncevaux Terra is the name given to the highly reflective side of Saturn's moon Iapetus. The other half of Iapetus, named Cassini Regio, is extremely dark. It is believed that Roncevaux Terra is the underlying colour of Iapetus, while Cassini Regio was formed either by a substance that has covered up the brighter ice of the rest of the moon, or by a residue left from the sublimation of Roncevaux-type water ice. For more details, see the main article on Iapetus.

Roncevaux Terra is named after the Battle of Roncevaux Pass, subject of the French poem the Chanson de Roland, after whose characters the surface features of Iapetus are named. "Terra" is a term used in planetary geology to refer to extensive landmasses.

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