Impact-driven mobilization of deep crustal brines on dwarf planet Ceres
Abstract
Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the inner Solar System, appears to be a relict ocean world. Data collected by NASA's Dawn spacecraft provided evidence that global aqueous alteration within Ceres resulted in a chemically evolved body that remains volatile-rich. Recent emplacement of bright deposits sourced from brines attests to Ceres being a persistently geologically active world, but the surprising longevity of this activity at the 92-km Occator crater has yet to be explained. Here, we use new high-resolution Dawn gravity data to study the subsurface architecture of the region surrounding Occator crater, which hosts extensive young bright carbonate deposits (faculae). Gravity data and thermal modelling imply an extensive deep brine reservoir beneath Occator, which we argue could have been mobilized by the heating and deep fracturing associated with the Occator impact, leading to long-lived extrusion of brines and formation of the faculae. Moreover, we find that pre-existing tectonic cracks may provide pathways for deep brines to migrate within the crust, extending the regions affected by impacts and creating compositional heterogeneity. The long-lived hydrological system resulting from the impact might also occur for large impacts in icy moons, with implications for creation of transient habitable niches over time.
Additional Information
© 2020 Springer Nature Limited. Received 12 September 2019. Accepted 02 July 2020. Published 10 August 2020. This research was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. We thank the Dawn operations team for the development, cruise, orbital insertion and operations of the Dawn spacecraft at Ceres. M.A.H. was supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) grant DMS-1720349. US Government sponsorship is acknowledged. Author Contributions: C.A.R. led the preparation of the manuscript and the geophysical data analysis and interpretation with A.I.E. (MCMC modelling), J.C.C.-R. and M.A.H (thermal modelling), and S.M. and B.C.J. (scaled iSALE results). J.E.C.S. analysed dome morphology, D.L.B., H.G.S. and P.M.S. contributed to geomorphologic interpretation and J.T.K. illustrated the evolution scenario. A.N., R.S.P., T.H.P., L.C.Q., M.D.R. and C.T.R. contributed to the preparation of the manuscript. Data availability: The data that support the plots within this paper, and conclusions of this study are available from the PDS Small Bodies Node website (https://sbn.psi.edu/pds/resource/dawn) or from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. The authors declare no competing interests. Peer review information: Nature Astronomy thanks Douglas Hemingway and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig10_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig11_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig12_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig13_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig14_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig5_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig6_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig7_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig8_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41550_2020_1168_Fig9_ESM.jpg
Files
Name | Size | Download all |
---|---|---|
md5:c7208e5e05a87fbdb9e7845e9ce0d687
|
202.9 kB | Preview Download |
md5:1307e09423ae0d3d60ad3db5c05366a1
|
495.2 kB | Preview Download |
md5:8e8c23508aa7ac524c25af758011df40
|
262.7 kB | Preview Download |
md5:4c7c76313623b2908504c0cb9c4946cd
|
82.9 kB | Preview Download |
md5:19353c11c27a65ba87d8118dd6c6a824
|
205.7 kB | Preview Download |
md5:6bcc99ec6bb0283cbf5a535dc3f924b3
|
281.0 kB | Preview Download |
md5:a2c2ef28361a8e96528ab6f922d99c7b
|
86.6 kB | Preview Download |
md5:c46f9eabc4994ebd38a1e759754e6589
|
84.9 kB | Preview Download |
md5:930de6f5a9dfc39a450c98a014d98964
|
83.9 kB | Preview Download |
md5:3643fd6544c3511e827ff34994cabba9
|
211.1 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 104909
- DOI
- 10.1038/s41550-020-1168-2
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20200811-114716572
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- DMS-1720349
- NSF
- Created
-
2020-08-11Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2022-11-23Created from EPrint's last_modified field