Oxo Crater on (1) Ceres: Geological History and the Role of Water-ice

Journal Article · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Astronomical Journal (Online)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/AA7A04· OSTI ID:22663293

Nathues, A.; Platz, T.; Hoffmann, M.; Thangjam, G.; Le Corre, L.; Reddy, V. ^[1]; Cloutis, E. A.; Applin, D. M. ^[2]; Mengel, K. ^[3]; Protopapa, S. ^[4]; Takir, D. ^[5]; Preusker, F. ^[6]; Schmidt, B. E. ^[7]

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1. Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Justus-von-Liebig-Weg 3, D-37077 Goettingen (Germany)
2. University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB R3B 2E9 (Canada)
3. IELF, TU Clausthal, Adolph-Roemer-Straße 2A, D-38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld (Germany)
4. University of Maryland, Department of Astronomy, College Park, MD 20742 (United States)
5. SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043 (United States)
6. German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Planetary Research, D-12489 Berlin (Germany)
7. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

Dwarf planet Ceres (∅ ∼ 940 km) is the largest object in the main asteroid belt. Investigations suggest that Ceres is a thermally evolved, volatile-rich body with potential geological activity, a body that was never completely molten, but one that possibly partially differentiated into a rocky core and an ice-rich mantle, and may contain remnant internal liquid water. Thermal alteration and the infall of exogenic material contribute to producing a (dark) carbonaceous chondritic-like surface containing ammoniated phyllosilicates. Here we report imaging and spectroscopic analyses of data on the bright Oxo crater derived from the Framing Camera and the Visible and Infrared Spectrometer on board the Dawn spacecraft. We confirm that the transitional complex crater Oxo (∅ ∼ 9 km) exhibits exposed surface water-ice. We show that this water-ice-rich material is associated exclusively with two lobate deposits at pole-facing scarps, deposits that also contain carbonates and admixed phyllosilicates. Due to Oxo’s location at −4802 m below the cerean reference ellipsoid and its very young age of only 190 ka (1 σ : +100 ka, −70 ka), Oxo is predestined for ongoing water-ice sublimation.

• OSTI ID: 22663293
• Journal Information: Astronomical Journal (Online), Vol. 154, Issue 3; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ASTEROIDS
ASTROPHYSICS
CAMERAS
CARBONATES
CRATERS
DEPOSITS
ICE
INFRARED SPECTRA
INFRARED SPECTROMETERS
PLANETS
SPACE VEHICLES
SUBLIMATION
SURFACES
VISIBLE SPECTRA
WATER