P41E-01
A First Look at the Geology of Charon
Thursday, 17 December 2015: 08:00
2022-2024 (Moscone West)
John R Spencer1, Jeffrey M Moore2, William B McKinnon3, Alan Stern1, Harold A Weaver Jr4, Leslie Ann Young5, Catherine Olkin5, Kimberly Ennico Smith2 and The New Horizons Geology, Geophysics and Imaging Science Theme Team, (1)Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, United States, (2)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (3)Washington University in St Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, (4)Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, (5)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
Abstract:
New Horizons imaged all of Pluto's moon Charon northward of ~30 degrees south at scales between 40 and 0.15 km/pixel, revealing a world of surprising geological complexity. Impact craters are common, but have densities well below saturation levels over much of the surface, indicating an extended history of resurfacing. Charon's surface is cut by several sets of fractures, hundreds of kilometers long and up to several kilometers deep, and large regions have been resurfaced by plains material, which is cut by rille-like depressions and forms moats around several isolated mountains. Dark terrain centered on the north pole may be dominantly of exogenic origin but also shows evidence for control by underlying topography. Elsewhere, complex albedo patterns, often associated with impact craters, may offer clues about subsurface structure and composition. The implications of these features for the geological history of Charon will be discussed.
