More diversity for volcanism: Ceres’ Ahuna Mons from Dawn’s Framing Camera data

Abstract

In the last decades, the exploration of planets and moons by spacecraft revealed a variety of volcanic expressions. The recent visit to dwarf planet Ceres by the Dawn spacecraft is shedding light on a possible new, compositionally different volcanism falling into the cryovolcanism field. The dwarf planet’s properties, i.e., low bulk density, low internal temperatures and volatile-rich composition relative to terrestrial planets, would only generate melts composed of brines. On the other hand, Ceres’ carbonate- and clay-rich surface mineralogy suggests a cryovolcanism different from that of water-ice dominated icy satellites. The Dawn Framing Camera (FC) provides a complete global dataset for photo-geological investigations of Ceres, including a 35 m/pixel visible coverage, a 135 m/pixel multi-spectral coverage, and a 135 m/pixel global digital elevation model from stereo-photogrammetry. Domical landforms up to a few kilometers in elevation and tens of kilometers in diameter (referred to as tholi and montes) are found scattered across Ceres’ surface. Ahuna Mons is a 4-km topographic high distinct in its shape and morphology from other topographic features on Ceres. The mountain consists of two morphological units: a flank unit of unconsolidated material and a fractured (i.e., consolidated) summit unit. Steep slopes at the angle of repose characterize the flank unit, whereas the summit unit has a convex shape. The flank and summit morphologies and the morphometry of the mountain can be explained by the formation of a cryovolcanic dome, analogous to a silicic volcanic dome found on terrestrial planets. Albedo and crater size-frequency distribution measurements from FC imagery reveal geologically-recent activity on Ahuna Mons, occurring sometime within the last few hundreds Myr. The characteristics of and implications for this possible cryomagma for Ceres thermal and chemical evolution will be discussed.