Large-scale cryovolcanic resurfacing on Pluto
In: ISSN: 2041-1723, 2022
Online
academicJournal
Zugriff:
International audience ; The New Horizons spacecraft returned images and compositional data showing that terrains on Pluto span a variety of ages, ranging from relatively ancient, heavily cratered areas to very young surfaces with few-to-no impact craters. One of the regions with very few impact craters is dominated by enormous rises with hummocky flanks. Similar features do not exist anywhere else in the imaged solar system. Here we analyze the geomorphology and composition of the features and conclude this region was resurfaced by cryovolcanic processes, of a type and scale so far unique to Pluto. Creation of this terrain requires multiple eruption sites and a large volume of material (>10 4 km 3) to form what we propose are multiple, several-km-high domes, some of which merge to form more complex planforms. The existence of these massive features suggests Pluto's interior structure and evolution allows for either enhanced retention of heat or more heat overall than was anticipated before New Horizons, which permitted mobilization of water-ice-rich materials late in Pluto's history.
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Large-scale cryovolcanic resurfacing on Pluto
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Autor/in / Beteiligte Person: | Singer, Kelsi ; White, Oliver ; Schmitt, Bernard ; Rader, Erika ; Protopapa, Silvia ; Grundy, William ; Cruikshank, Dale ; Bertrand, Tanguy ; Schenk, Paul ; Mckinnon, William ; Stern, S. Alan ; Dhingra, Rajani ; Runyon, Kirby ; Beyer, Ross ; Bray, Veronica ; Ore, Cristina Dalle ; Spencer, John ; Moore, Jeffrey ; Nimmo, Francis ; Keane, James ; Young, Leslie ; Olkin, Catherine ; Lauer, Tod ; Weaver, Harold ; Ennico-Smith, Kimberly ; Southwest Research Institute Boulder (SwRI) ; NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) ; Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (IPAG) ; Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Grenoble (OSUG ) ; Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Météo-France-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA)-Météo-France ; Lowell Observatory Flagstaff ; Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique = Laboratory of Space Studies and Instrumentation in Astrophysics (LESIA) ; Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire de Paris ; Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité) ; Lunar and Planetary Institute Houston (LPI) ; McDonnell Center for Space Sciences ; Washington University in Saint Louis (WUSTL) ; University of California Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz) ; University of California (UC) ; University of Arizona ; NSF’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) ; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory Laurel, MD (APL) |
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Zeitschrift: | ISSN: 2041-1723, 2022 |
Veröffentlichung: | HAL CCSD ; Nature Publishing Group, 2022 |
Medientyp: | academicJournal |
DOI: | 10.1038/s41467-022-29056-3 |
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