Geological mapping of Sputnik Planitia on Pluto

Oliver L. White (1) , Jeffrey M. Moore (1) , William B. Mckinnon (2) , John R. Spencer (3) , Alan D. Howard (4) , Paul M. Schenk (5) , Ross A. Beyer (1, 6) , Francis Nimmo (7) , Kelsi N. Singer , Orkan M. Umurhan , S. Alan Stern (3) , Kimberly Ennico (1) , Cathy B. Olkin (8) , Harold A. Weaver (9) , Leslie A. Young (10) , Andrew F. Cheng (11) , Tanguy Bertrand (12) , Richard P. Binzel (13) , Alissa M. Earle , Will M. Grundy (14) , Tod R. Lauer (15) , Silvia Protopapa (16) , Stuart J. Robbins , Bernard Schmitt (17)

1 ARC - NASA Ames Research Center
2 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences [St Louis]
3 Department of Space Studies [Boulder]
4 Univ Virginia, Dept Environm Sci, Charlottesville, VA 22903 USA
5 LPI - Lunar and Planetary Institute [Houston]
6 SETI - Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute
7 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences [Santa Cruz]
8 SwRI - Southwest Research Institute [Boulder]
9 JHU APL
10 SwRI - Southwest Research Institute [San Antonio]
11 JHU/APL
12 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)
13 Department of Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT
14 Lowell Observatory [Flagstaff]
15 NOAO - National Optical Astronomy Observatory
16 Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, MD, USA
17 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble

The geology and stratigraphy of the feature on Pluto informally named Sputnik Planitia is documented through geologic mapping at 1:2,000,000 scale. All units that have been mapped are presently being affected to some degree by the action of flowing N₂ ice. The N₂ ice plains of Sputnik Planitia display no impact craters, and are undergoing constant resurfacing via convection, glacial flow and sublimation. Condensation of atmospheric N₂ onto the surface to form a bright mantle has occurred across broad swathes of Sputnik Planitia, and appears to be partly controlled by Pluto's obliquity cycles. The action of N₂ ice has been instrumental in affecting uplands terrain surrounding Sputnik Planitia, and has played a key role in the disruption of Sputnik Planitia's western margin to form chains of blocky mountain ranges, as well in the extensive erosion by glacial flow of the uplands to the east of Sputnik Planitia.

Keywords: Pluto; surface; Geological processes; Ices

Domains: Sciences of the Universe [physics]

Oliver L. White, Jeffrey M. Moore, William B. Mckinnon, John R. Spencer, Alan D. Howard, et al.. Geological mapping of Sputnik Planitia on Pluto. Icarus, 2017, 287, pp.261-286. ⟨10.1016/j.icarus.2017.01.011⟩. ⟨insu-03692516⟩