The geology of Pluto and Charon through the eyes of New Horizons

Jeffrey M Moore; William B McKinnon; John R Spencer; Alan D Howard; Paul M Schenk; Ross A Beyer; Francis Nimmo; Kelsi N Singer; Orkan M Umurhan; Oliver L White; S Alan Stern; Kimberly Ennico; Cathy B Olkin; Harold A Weaver; Leslie A Young; Richard P Binzel; Marc W Buie; Bonnie J Buratti; Andrew F Cheng; Dale P Cruikshank; Will M Grundy; Ivan R Linscott; Harold J Reitsema; Dennis C Reuter; Mark R Showalter; Veronica J Bray; Carrie L Chavez; Carly J A Howett; Tod R Lauer; Carey M Lisse; Alex Harrison Parker; S B Porter; Stuart J Robbins; Kirby Runyon; Ted Stryk; Henry B Throop; Constantine C C Tsang; Anne J Verbiscer; Amanda M Zangari; Andrew L Chaikin; Don E Wilhelms; New Horizons Science Team

doi:10.1126/science.aad7055

The geology of Pluto and Charon through the eyes of New Horizons

Science. 2016 Mar 18;351(6279):1284-93. doi: 10.1126/science.aad7055.

Authors

Jeffrey M Moore¹, William B McKinnon², John R Spencer³, Alan D Howard⁴, Paul M Schenk⁵, Ross A Beyer⁶, Francis Nimmo⁷, Kelsi N Singer³, Orkan M Umurhan⁸, Oliver L White⁸, S Alan Stern³, Kimberly Ennico⁸, Cathy B Olkin³, Harold A Weaver⁹, Leslie A Young³, Richard P Binzel¹⁰, Marc W Buie³, Bonnie J Buratti¹¹, Andrew F Cheng⁹, Dale P Cruikshank⁸, Will M Grundy¹², Ivan R Linscott¹³, Harold J Reitsema³, Dennis C Reuter¹⁴, Mark R Showalter¹⁵, Veronica J Bray¹⁶, Carrie L Chavez⁶, Carly J A Howett³, Tod R Lauer¹⁷, Carey M Lisse⁹, Alex Harrison Parker³, S B Porter³, Stuart J Robbins³, Kirby Runyon⁹, Ted Stryk¹⁸, Henry B Throop¹⁹, Constantine C C Tsang³, Anne J Verbiscer²⁰, Amanda M Zangari³, Andrew L Chaikin²¹, Don E Wilhelms²²; New Horizons Science Team

Collaborators

New Horizons Science Team:
F Bagenal, G R Gladstone, T Andert, J Andrews, M Banks, B Bauer, J Bauman, O S Barnouin, P Bedini, K Beisser, S Bhaskaran, E Birath, M Bird, D J Bogan, A Bowman, M Brozovic, C Bryan, M R Buckley, S S Bushman, A Calloway, B Carcich, S Conard, C A Conrad, J C Cook, O S Custodio, C M Dalle Ore, C Deboy, Z J B Dischner, P Dumont, A M Earle, H A Elliott, J Ercol, C M Ernst, T Finley, S H Flanigan, G Fountain, M J Freeze, T Greathouse, J L Green, Y Guo, M Hahn, D P Hamilton, S A Hamilton, J Hanley, A Harch, H M Hart, C B Hersman, A Hill, M E Hill, D P Hinson, M E Holdridge, M Horanyi, C Jackman, R A Jacobson, D E Jennings, J A Kammer, H K Kang, D E Kaufmann, P Kollmann, S M Krimigis, D Kusnierkiewicz, J E Lee, K L Lindstrom, A W Lunsford, V A Mallder, N Martin, D J McComas, R L McNutt Jr, D Mehoke, T Mehoke, E D Melin, M Mutchler, D Nelson, J I Nunez, A Ocampo, W M Owen, M Paetzold, B Page, J W Parker, F Pelletier, J Peterson, N Pinkine, M Piquette, S Protopapa, J Redfern, J H Roberts, G Rogers, D Rose, K D Retherford, M G Ryschkewitsch, E Schindhelm, B Sepan, M Soluri, D Stanbridge, A J Steffl, D F Strobel, M E Summers, J R Szalay, M Tapley, A Taylor, H Taylor, G L Tyler, M H Versteeg, M Vincent, R Webbert, S Weidner, G E Weigle 2nd, K Whittenburg, B G Williams, K Williams, S Williams, W W Woods, E Zirnstein

Affiliations

¹ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. [email protected].
² Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
³ Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
⁴ Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
⁵ Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
⁶ The SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
⁷ University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
⁸ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, Space Science Division, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
⁹ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
¹⁰ Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
¹¹ NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA 91019, USA.
¹² Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
¹³ Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
¹⁴ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
¹⁵ The SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
¹⁶ University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
¹⁷ National Optical Astronomy Observatory, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.
¹⁸ Roane State Community College, Oak Ridge, TN 37830, USA.
¹⁹ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.
²⁰ Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA.
²¹ Independent Science Writer, Arlington, VT 05250, USA.
²² U.S. Geological Survey, Retired, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA.

PMID: 26989245
DOI: 10.1126/science.aad7055

Abstract

NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has revealed the complex geology of Pluto and Charon. Pluto's encounter hemisphere shows ongoing surface geological activity centered on a vast basin containing a thick layer of volatile ices that appears to be involved in convection and advection, with a crater retention age no greater than ~10 million years. Surrounding terrains show active glacial flow, apparent transport and rotation of large buoyant water-ice crustal blocks, and pitting, the latter likely caused by sublimation erosion and/or collapse. More enigmatic features include tall mounds with central depressions that are conceivably cryovolcanic and ridges with complex bladed textures. Pluto also has ancient cratered terrains up to ~4 billion years old that are extensionally faulted and extensively mantled and perhaps eroded by glacial or other processes. Charon does not appear to be currently active, but experienced major extensional tectonism and resurfacing (probably cryovolcanic) nearly 4 billion years ago. Impact crater populations on Pluto and Charon are not consistent with the steepest impactor size-frequency distributions proposed for the Kuiper belt.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.