Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution
Abstract Prior to the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft at Ceres, the dwarf planet was anticipated to be ice‐rich. Searches for morphological features related to ice have been ongoing during Dawn's mission at Ceres. Here we report the identification of pitted terrains associated with fresh Cerean...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2017-07-01
|
| Series: | Geophysical Research Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073970 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850272528285564928 |
|---|---|
| author | H. G. Sizemore T. Platz N. Schorghofer T. H. Prettyman M. C. De Sanctis D. A. Crown N. Schmedemann A. Neesemann T. Kneissl S. Marchi P. M. Schenk M. T. Bland B. E. Schmidt K. H. G. Hughson F. Tosi F. Zambon S. C. Mest R. A. Yingst D. A. Williams C. T. Russell C. A. Raymond |
| author_facet | H. G. Sizemore T. Platz N. Schorghofer T. H. Prettyman M. C. De Sanctis D. A. Crown N. Schmedemann A. Neesemann T. Kneissl S. Marchi P. M. Schenk M. T. Bland B. E. Schmidt K. H. G. Hughson F. Tosi F. Zambon S. C. Mest R. A. Yingst D. A. Williams C. T. Russell C. A. Raymond |
| author_sort | H. G. Sizemore |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Prior to the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft at Ceres, the dwarf planet was anticipated to be ice‐rich. Searches for morphological features related to ice have been ongoing during Dawn's mission at Ceres. Here we report the identification of pitted terrains associated with fresh Cerean impact craters. The Cerean pitted terrains exhibit strong morphological similarities to pitted materials previously identified on Mars (where ice is implicated in pit development) and Vesta (where the presence of ice is debated). We employ numerical models to investigate the formation of pitted materials on Ceres and discuss the relative importance of water ice and other volatiles in pit development there. We conclude that water ice likely plays an important role in pit development on Ceres. Similar pitted terrains may be common in the asteroid belt and may be of interest to future missions motivated by both astrobiology and in situ resource utilization. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9ec60cdecbc24e7faac0fa4f772ddd6c |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0094-8276 1944-8007 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2017-07-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Geophysical Research Letters |
| spelling | doaj-art-9ec60cdecbc24e7faac0fa4f772ddd6c2025-08-20T01:51:46ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072017-07-0144136570657810.1002/2017GL073970Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distributionH. G. Sizemore0T. Platz1N. Schorghofer2T. H. Prettyman3M. C. De Sanctis4D. A. Crown5N. Schmedemann6A. Neesemann7T. Kneissl8S. Marchi9P. M. Schenk10M. T. Bland11B. E. Schmidt12K. H. G. Hughson13F. Tosi14F. Zambon15S. C. Mest16R. A. Yingst17D. A. Williams18C. T. Russell19C. A. Raymond20Planetary Science Institute Tucson Arizona USAMax Planck Institute for Solar System Research Göttingen GermanyPlanetary Science Institute Tucson Arizona USAPlanetary Science Institute Tucson Arizona USAIstituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, INAF Rome ItalyPlanetary Science Institute Tucson Arizona USADepartment of Earth Sciences Freie Universität Berlin Berlin GermanyDepartment of Earth Sciences Freie Universität Berlin Berlin GermanyDepartment of Earth Sciences Freie Universität Berlin Berlin GermanySouthwest Research Institute Boulder Colorado USALunar and Planetary Institute Houston Texas USAUSGS Astrogeology Science Center Flagstaff Arizona USADepartment of Planetary and Space Physics Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta Georgia USADepartment of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles California USAIstituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, INAF Rome ItalyIstituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, INAF Rome ItalyPlanetary Science Institute Tucson Arizona USAPlanetary Science Institute Tucson Arizona USASchool of Earth and Space Sciences Arizona State University Tempe Arizona USADepartment of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences University of California Los Angeles Los Angeles California USAJet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology Pasadena California USAAbstract Prior to the arrival of the Dawn spacecraft at Ceres, the dwarf planet was anticipated to be ice‐rich. Searches for morphological features related to ice have been ongoing during Dawn's mission at Ceres. Here we report the identification of pitted terrains associated with fresh Cerean impact craters. The Cerean pitted terrains exhibit strong morphological similarities to pitted materials previously identified on Mars (where ice is implicated in pit development) and Vesta (where the presence of ice is debated). We employ numerical models to investigate the formation of pitted materials on Ceres and discuss the relative importance of water ice and other volatiles in pit development there. We conclude that water ice likely plays an important role in pit development on Ceres. Similar pitted terrains may be common in the asteroid belt and may be of interest to future missions motivated by both astrobiology and in situ resource utilization.https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073970Ceresgeomorphologycraterspitted terrainvolatilesground ice |
| spellingShingle | H. G. Sizemore T. Platz N. Schorghofer T. H. Prettyman M. C. De Sanctis D. A. Crown N. Schmedemann A. Neesemann T. Kneissl S. Marchi P. M. Schenk M. T. Bland B. E. Schmidt K. H. G. Hughson F. Tosi F. Zambon S. C. Mest R. A. Yingst D. A. Williams C. T. Russell C. A. Raymond Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution Geophysical Research Letters Ceres geomorphology craters pitted terrain volatiles ground ice |
| title | Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution |
| title_full | Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution |
| title_fullStr | Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution |
| title_short | Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution |
| title_sort | pitted terrains on 1 ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution |
| topic | Ceres geomorphology craters pitted terrain volatiles ground ice |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073970 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hgsizemore pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT tplatz pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT nschorghofer pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT thprettyman pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT mcdesanctis pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT dacrown pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT nschmedemann pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT aneesemann pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT tkneissl pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT smarchi pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT pmschenk pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT mtbland pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT beschmidt pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT khghughson pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT ftosi pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT fzambon pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT scmest pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT rayingst pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT dawilliams pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT ctrussell pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution AT caraymond pittedterrainson1ceresandimplicationsforshallowsubsurfacevolatiledistribution |