Sublimation as a Landform-Shaping Process on PlutoSeveral icy-world surfaces in the solar system exhibit sublimation-driven landform modification erosion, condensation, and mass wasting [1]. In addition to the obvious role of gravity, mass wasting can work in conjunction with internal disaggregation of a landform's relief-supporting material through the loss (or deteriorating alteration) of its cohesive matrix. To give a conspicuous example, Callisto's landscape exhibits widespread erosion from sublimation erosion of slopes, which results in smooth, undulating, low albedo plains composed of lag deposits, with isolated high albedo pinnacles perched on remnants of crater rims due to the re-precipitation of ice on local cold traps [2, 3, 4]. Sublimation-driven mass wasting was anticipated on Pluto prior to the encounter (see refs in [5]). Here we report on several landscapes on Pluto we interpret to be formed, or at least heavily modified, by sublimation erosion.
Document ID
20160012338
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Moore, J. M. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
Howard, A. D. (Virginia Univ. Charlottesville, VA, United States)
White, O. L. (Universities Space Research Association Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Umurhan, O. M. (Universities Space Research Association Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Schenk, P. M. (Lunar and Planetary Inst. Houston, TX, United States)
Beyer, R. A. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)
McKinnon, W. B. (Washington Univ. Saint Louis, MO, United States)
Singer, K. N. (Southwest Research Inst. Boulder, CO, United States)
Spencer, J. R. (Southwest Research Inst. Boulder, CO, United States)
Stern, S. A. (Southwest Research Inst. Boulder, CO, United States)
Young, L. A. (Southwest Research Inst. Boulder, CO, United States)
Weaver, H. (Johns Hopkins Univ. Laurel, MD, United States)
Olkin, C. B. (Southwest Research Inst. Boulder, CO, United States)
Ennico, K. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA United States)