Evidence for the Interior Evolution of Ceres from Geologic Analysis of Fractures

Scully, J. E. C.; Buczkowski, D. L.; Schmedemann, N.; Raymond, C. A.; Castillo‐Rogez, Julie; King, Scott D.; Bland, M. T.; Ermakov, A.; O’Brien, D. P.; Marchi, S.; Longobardo, A.; Russell, C. T.; Fu, R. R.; Neveu, Marc

doi:10.1002/2017gl075086

Cited by 32 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…For Occator and Dantu, the high‐roughness lineaments lie outside of the smooth circumcrater areas. The lineaments around Occator curve noticeably to the West (Scully et al, ), which indicates that this system of lineaments is due to the infall of the secondary impactors that are curved due to fast Ceres rotation. This set of lineaments correlates well with bluish material on the HAMO color ratio composite image (Williams et al, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…This set of lineaments correlates well with bluish material on the HAMO color ratio composite image (Williams et al, ). Also, this set of lineaments crosscuts Samhain Catenae, a system of linear depressions that was interpreted to be pits chains (Scully et al, ). It can be seen in Figure that Samhain Catenae typically have orange or red color, whereas the system of Occator lineaments has a blue and cyan color, thus indicating it is composed of smaller scale features.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Surface Roughness and Gravitational Slope Distributions of Vesta and Ceres

et al. 2019

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Heavily cratered terrains dominate the surfaces of asteroid 4 Vesta and dwarf planet 1 Ceres. The data from the Dawn spacecraft allowed reconstruction of high‐resolution shape models of these bodies. We used the stereophotoclinometric shape models to compute gravitational slopes and topographic roughness of Vesta and Ceres. We compute the slope distributions of Vesta and Ceres and compare them to those of the other bodies with heavily cratered terrains. The distribution of slopes of Vesta and Ceres has a kink at ≈34°. The slope distribution is steeper for slopes higher than ≈34°. The Moon and Mars have a similar kink but at a lower (shallower) slope (≈29°–30°). We hypothesize that this kink corresponds to the angle of repose, which is higher on the two minor bodies compared to that of Mars and the Moon. We have also analyzed the topographic roughness of Vesta and Ceres. Vesta's topography is characterized by lower roughness in the southern hemisphere that was resurfaced by giant impacts. The roughness of Ceres is mostly controlled by regional‐scale geology with no significant large‐scale variations. Large, fresh craters have smooth ejecta blankets on both Vesta and Ceres unlike previously observed rough ejecta on the Moon, Mars, and Mercury. On Ceres, the smooth ejecta craters also have smooth floors explained by impact slurry. Lineaments of elevated roughness are abundant on Ceres, whereas are nearly absent on Vesta. The roughness maps we produced provide a synoptic view of the surface texture and could be used to aid geologic mapping.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Surface Roughness and Gravitational Slope Distributions of Vesta and Ceres

et al. 2019

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“…The distribution of craters with concentric fractures beyond the crater rim does not seem to be correlated with the global distribution of fractures on Ceres, which are abundant between 210°E and 300°E, between 40°N and 60°S, and between the craters Occator and Dantu (0–45°N and 90–260°E; Scully et al, ). Craters with concentric fractures beyond the rim also occur in areas depleted in linear fractures suggesting that the causes for forming Ceres' global linear features, such as extensional stresses introduced by upwelling material (Scully et al, ), are different from the ones generating concentric fractures.…”

Section: Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ceres Crater Degradation Inferred From Concentric Fracturing

et al. 2019

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The dwarf planet Ceres exhibits a collection of craters that possess concentric fractures beyond the crater rim. These fractures typically range from a few hundred meters to a few kilometers in length and are less than 300 m wide. They occur preferentially on elevated regions around the crater and are located less than a crater radius beyond the rim. In total there are 17 craters exhibiting concentric fracturing beyond the rim. They are located in the midlatitudes. The craters' diameters range between 20 and 270 km. We investigate the concentric fractures of three craters (Azacca, Ikapati, and Occator) in detail and suggest that the formation of such concentric fractures can be explained by a shallow (<10‐km) low‐viscosity (~1020‐Pa·s) subsurface layer extending underneath the crater and its surroundings. Finite element modeling of such a scenario applied to a typical concentrically fractured crater of 50‐km diameter implies that the depth of the low‐viscosity layer is comparable to the crater depth and the layer does not extend to the surface. Given that not every crater of comparable size on Ceres exhibits concentric fractures, it is also suggested that these conditions are only met locally and may be related to the surface temperature. Correlations of concentrically fractured craters with other volatile related features, such as pitted terrains and floor fracturing, suggest that the low‐viscosity subsurface layer may be enriched in ice.

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“…It suggests no more than 40 vol.% of a weak phase, which Bland et al (2016) interpreted as an upper bound on the water ice fraction. The extent of porosity is not constrained though and might show lateral variations, as indicated by the distribution of surface fractures (Scully et al, 2017). The extent of porosity is not constrained though and might show lateral variations, as indicated by the distribution of surface fractures (Scully et al, 2017).…”

Section: Constraints On Ceres' Interior From Dawnmentioning

confidence: 99%

Conditions for the Long‐Term Preservation of a Deep Brine Reservoir in Ceres

Castillo‐Rogez

Hesse

Formisano

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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We propose a new internal evolution model for the dwarf planet Ceres matching the constraints on Ceres' present internal state from the Dawn mission observations. We assume an interior differentiated into a volatile‐dominated crust and rocky mantle, and with remnant brines in the mantle, all consistent with inferences from the Dawn geophysical observations. Simulations indicate Ceres should preserve a warm crust until present if the crust is rich in clathrate hydrates. The temperature computed at the base of the crust exceeds 220 K for a broad range of conditions, allowing for the preservation of a small amount of brines at the base of the crust. However, a temperature ≥250 K, for which at least 1 wt.% sodium carbonate gets in solution requires a crustal abundance of clathrate hydrates greater than 55 vol.%, a situation possible for a narrow set of evolutionary scenarios.

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Evidence for the Interior Evolution of Ceres from Geologic Analysis of Fractures

Cited by 32 publications

References 35 publications

Surface Roughness and Gravitational Slope Distributions of Vesta and Ceres

Surface Roughness and Gravitational Slope Distributions of Vesta and Ceres

Ceres Crater Degradation Inferred From Concentric Fracturing

Conditions for the Long‐Term Preservation of a Deep Brine Reservoir in Ceres

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