Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution

H.G. Sizemore; Thomas Platz; Norbert Schorghofer; Thomas Prettyman; Maria Christina De Sanctis; David A. Crown; Nico Schmedemann; Andeas Nessemann; Thomas Kneissl; Simone Marchi; Paul M. Schenk; Michael T. Bland; B.E. Schmidt; Kynan H.G. Hughson; F. Tosi; F Zambon; S.C. Mest; R.A. Yingst; D.A. Williams; C.T. Russell; C.A. Raymond

doi:10.1002/2017GL073970

Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution

Geophysical Research Letters

By: H.G. Sizemore, Thomas Platz, Norbert Schorghofer, Thomas Prettyman, Maria Christina De Sanctis, David A. Crown, Nico Schmedemann, Andeas Nessemann, Thomas Kneissl, Simone Marchi, Paul M. Schenk, Michael T. Bland, B.E. Schmidt, Kynan H.G. Hughson, F. Tosi, F Zambon, S.C. Mest, R.A. Yingst, D.A. Williams, C.T. Russell, and C.A. Raymond

https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL073970

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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.

Additional publication details
Publication type	Article
Publication Subtype	Journal Article
Title	Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution
Series title	Geophysical Research Letters
DOI	10.1002/2017GL073970
Volume	44
Issue	13
Year Published	2017
Language	English
Publisher	AGU Publications
Contributing office(s)	Astrogeology Science Center
Description	9 p.
First page	6570
Last page	6578
Other Geospatial	Ceres
Google Analytic Metrics	Metrics page