P41E-06
Geomorphological Mapping of Sputnik Planum and Surrounding Terrain on Pluto

Thursday, 17 December 2015: 09:06
2022-2024 (Moscone West)
Oliver L White1, S Alan Stern2, Harold A Weaver Jr3, Catherine Olkin4, Kimberly Ennico Smith5, Leslie Ann Young4, Jeffrey M Moore6, Andrew F. Cheng3 and The New Horizons GGI Theme Team, (1)NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-3, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (2)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Dept Space Studies, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States, (4)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (5)NASA Ames, Moffet Field, CA, United States, (6)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States
Abstract:
The New Horizons flyby of Pluto in July 2015 has provided the first few close-up images of the Kuiper belt object, which reveal it to have a highly diverse range of terrains, implying a complex geological history. The highest resolution images that have yet been returned are seven lossy 400 m/pixel frames that cover the majority of the prominent Plutonian feature informally named Sputnik Planum (all feature names are currently informal), and its surroundings. This resolution is sufficient to allow detailed geomorphological mapping of this area to commence. Lossless versions of all 15 frames that make up the mosaic will be returned in September 2015, and the map presented at AGU will incorporate the total area covered by these frames.

Sputnik Planum, with an area of ~650,000 km2, is notable for its smooth appearance and apparent total lack of impact craters at 400 m/pixel resolution. The Planum actually displays a wide variety of textures across its expanse, which includes smooth and pitted plains to the south, polygonal terrain at its center (the polygons can reach tens of kilometers in size and are bounded by troughs that sometimes feature central ridges), and, to the north, darker polygonal terrain displaying patterns indicative of glacial flow. Within these plains there exist several well-defined outcrops of a mottled, light/dark unit that reach from several to tens of kilometers across. Separating Sputnik Planum from the dark, cratered equatorial terrain of Cthulhu Regio on its south-western margin is a unit of chaotically arranged mountains; similar mountainous units exist on the south and western margins. The northern margin is bounded by rugged, hilly, cratered terrain into which ice of Sputnik Planum appears to be intruding in places. Terrain of similar relief exists to the east, but is much brighter than that to the north. The southernmost extent of the mosaic features a unit of rough, undulating terrain that displays very few impact craters at 400 m/pixel resolution.

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