GEOLOGICAL MAPPING OF PLUTO AND CHARON USING NEW HORIZONS DATA
Pluto and Charon exhibit strikingly different surface appearances, despite their similar densities and presumed bulk compositions. Systematic mapping has revealed that much of Pluto’s surface can be attributed to surface-atmosphere interactions and the mobilization of volatile ices by insolation. Ma...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2016-06-01
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| Series: | The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences |
| Online Access: | http://www.int-arch-photogramm-remote-sens-spatial-inf-sci.net/XLI-B4/449/2016/isprs-archives-XLI-B4-449-2016.pdf |
| Summary: | Pluto and Charon exhibit strikingly different surface appearances, despite their similar densities and presumed bulk compositions.
Systematic mapping has revealed that much of Pluto’s surface can be attributed to surface-atmosphere interactions and the
mobilization of volatile ices by insolation. Many mapped valley systems appear to be the consequence of glaciation involving
nitrogen ice. Other geological activity requires or required internal heating. The convection and advection of volatile ices in Sputnik
Planum can be powered by present-day radiogenic heat loss. On the other hand, the prominent mountains at the western margin of
Sputnik Planum, and the strange, multi-km-high mound features to the south, probably composed of H2O, are young geologically as
inferred by light cratering and superposition relationships. Their origin, and what drove their formation so late in Solar System
history, is under investigation. The dynamic remolding of landscapes by volatile transport seen on Pluto is not unambiguously
evident in the mapping of Charon. Charon does, however, display a large resurfaced plain and globally engirdling extensional
tectonic network attesting to its early endogenic vigor. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1750 2194-9034 |