Impact heat driven volatile redistribution at Occator crater on Ceres as a comparative planetary process

P. Schenk (), J. Scully, D. Buczkowski, H. Sizemore, B. Schmidt, C. Pieters, A. Neesemann, D. O’Brien, S. Marchi, D. Williams, A. Nathues, M. Sanctis, F. Tosi, C. T. Russell, J. Castillo-Rogez and C. Raymond
Additional contact information
P. Schenk: Lunar and Planetary Institute/USRA
J. Scully: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
D. Buczkowski: Johns Hopkins University-Applied Physics Laboratory
H. Sizemore: Planetary Science Institute
B. Schmidt: Georgia Institute of Technology
C. Pieters: Brown University Providence
A. Neesemann: Freie Universitat Berlin
D. O’Brien: Planetary Science Institute
S. Marchi: Southwest Research Institute
D. Williams: Arizona State University
A. Nathues: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research
M. Sanctis: INAF
F. Tosi: INAF
C. T. Russell: University of California
J. Castillo-Rogez: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech
C. Raymond: Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Caltech

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Hydrothermal processes in impact environments on water-rich bodies such as Mars and Earth are relevant to the origins of life. Dawn mapping of dwarf planet (1) Ceres has identified similar deposits within Occator crater. Here we show using Dawn high-resolution stereo imaging and topography that Ceres’ unique composition has resulted in widespread mantling by solidified water- and salt-rich mud-like impact melts with scattered endogenic pits, troughs, and bright mounds indicative of outgassing of volatiles and periglacial-style activity during solidification. These features are distinct from and less extensive than on Mars, indicating that Occator melts may be less gas-rich or volatiles partially inhibited from reaching the surface. Bright salts at Vinalia Faculae form thin surficial precipitates sourced from hydrothermal brine effusion at many individual sites, coalescing in several larger centers, but their ages are statistically indistinguishable from floor materials, allowing for but not requiring migration of brines from deep crustal source(s).

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17184-7

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