P41E-05
Geomorphic Evolution of Sputnik Planum and Surrounding Terrain
Thursday, 17 December 2015: 08:54
2022-2024 (Moscone West)
Alan D Howard1, Jeffrey M Moore2, Oliver L White3, Orkan M Umurhan4, Paul Schenk5, Ross A Beyer2, William B McKinnon6, Kelsi N Singer7, John R Spencer7, Alan Stern8, Harold A Weaver Jr9, Leslie Ann Young7, Kimberly Ennico Smith2, Catherine Olkin7 and New Horizons Geology and Geophysics Imaging Team, (1)University of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville, VA, United States, (2)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (3)NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-3, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (4)SETI Institute Mountain View, Mountain View, CA, United States, (5)Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX, United States, (6)Washington University in St Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States, (7)Southwest Research Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (8)Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, United States, (9)Applied Physics Laboratory Johns Hopkins, Laurel, MD, United States
Abstract:
The informally-named Sputnik Planum is a vast expanse (about 835 km east-west and 1500 km north-south) of N2, CH4, and CO ices which appears craterless at current resolutions, but which gives evidence of both glacial and convective flow in the ices (Stern and the New Horizons Team, Science, 2015). This ice field is surrounded by uplands of varying morphology from hilly terrain to the northeast, plains of apparent ices interspersed with rough terrain to the east, and textured ice surrounding the mountainous terrain to the southwest. The morphology and composition of this bordering terrain will provide clues to the long-term evolution of Sputnik Planum as higher resolution visual and spectral imaging of this region are returned from the New Horizons spacecraft over the next few months. Interactions between Sputnik Planum and surrounding terrain may have involved glacial erosion and deposition. The geomorphic evolution of this region will be discussed in the context of newly-returned encounter data.
