For all of Earth’s geological diversity and its long history, the planet has never had ice volcanoes. But Pluto has. And that cryovolcanism has shaped some of the ice dwarf’s surface features.When the New Horizons spacecraft visited Pluto in 2015, it revealed more complexity than planetary scientists imagined. Images from the spacecraft’s cameras showed a much more geologically active and complex surface than thought.
and other Kuiper Belt Objects. But scientists are still working their way through the more than six gigabytes of data provided by the spacecraft’s seven different science instruments during itsflybyy. Even getting the data took a long time because the vast distance and other mission limitations restricted data transfer from the spacecraft to 1 kbit/s per transmitter.
The cryovolcanic region contains multiple large domes, ranging from 1 to 7 kilometres tall and 30 to 100 or more kilometres across, that sometimes merge to form more complex structures. The tallest structures are almost as tall as Hawaii’s Mauna Loa. Hummocky terrain consisting of irregular interconnected hills, mounds and depressions covers the sides and tops of some of the larger structures. There are no impact craters in the area, evidence that the region is geologically young.
New Horizons’ instruments detected ammonia or ammoniated compounds near fractures on Pluto’s surface where cryofluid could’ve flowed to the surface. But the region in the study showed no clear ammonia signature. But a thin layer of seasonally frozen methane covers low altitude areas on Pluto, and the ammonia “…could be obscured by the methane signature,” the authors write.
Some of the details are still obscure. If cryovolcanism formed these features, there should be some evidence of the source. There should also be some evidence of directional flow. “The lack of indications of source vent regions or directionality of material movement makes it difficult to positively determine the mechanism of material emplacement on the surface.,” the study states.
“This scenario allows for a consistent formation mechanism for all of the large rises and depressions—where some are domical or annular, and others are complex shapes—through the merging of different rises,” the authors explain. Here’s where it gets really interesting. Previous research has shown that Pluto’s heat puzzle might involve a clathrate layer.
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Pluto has giant ice volcanoes that could hint at the possibility of life'We found a field of very large icy volcanoes that look nothing like anything else we have seen in the solar system,' said study author Kelsi Singer.
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