Context of Unusual Red Organic-Rich Areas on Ceres and Geologic Constraints for Their Origin
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Lunar and Planetary Science XLVIII (2017) 1296.pdf CONTEXT OF UNUSUAL RED ORGANIC-RICH AREAS ON CERES AND GEOLOGIC CONSTRAINTS FOR THEIR ORIGIN. C. M. Pieters1, A. Nathues2, G. Thangiam2, H. Hoffman2, C. De Sanctis3, E. Ammannito3,4, H. Hiesinger5, J. H. Pasckert5, D. P. O’Brien6, J. C. Castillo-Rogez7, O. Ruesch8, L. A. McFadden8, F. Tosi3, F. Zam- bon3, C. A. Raymond7, C. T. Russell4, 1Brown Univ., DEEPS, Providence, RI 02912 ([email protected]), 2Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Goettingen, Germany, 3Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spazi- ali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF), Rome, Italy, 4University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 5West- fälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany, 6Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ, USA, 7Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Inst. of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA, 8Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA. Introduction: Ceres is the largest and most massive crater floor is slightly terraced and contains several asteroid in the solar system and is rightfully termed a large slumps of wall material, but most of the floor is dwarf planet exhibiting a complex evolution. The Dawn relatively smooth. Either optical property, the presence team has spent over a year evaluating the character of of 3.4 µm absorption or the notable red visible contin- its dark surface [1] and has documented the pervasive uum, can be used to map the spatial extent of these un- presence of Mg-serpentine, ammoniated clays, and usual ROR materials and compared to background opaques [2, 3] with notable unusual deposits of bright Ceres materials (Fig. 2). Since the FC instrument ac- carbonates within Occator crater [4]. Recently, using quires higher spatial resolution data than VIR during data from Dawn’s visible to near-infrared imaging spec- Dawn’s lower orbits, the most detailed information for trometer (VIR) the unmistakable signature at 3.4 µm of geologic evaluation can be derived from FC multi-spec- organic materials was identified at a few localized areas tral images. in the northern hemisphere [5]. As illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, these correspond directly to areas previously found to exhibit a very unusual red-sloped continuum across visible wavelengths as analyzed independently by global multispectral images from the Dawn framing camera (FC) [6]. Here we discuss the geologic context and possible origin of these Red, Organic-Rich materi- als (designated ROR) as discerned from Dawn’s high and low altitude mapping orbits (HAMO and LAMO). Figure 1. Example ROR spectrum in the Ernutet region and background Ceres. Left: Scaled FC 7-color visible spectra il- lustrating the red-sloped continuum of ROR. Right: VIR near- infrared spectrum for the same ROR area illustrating the 3.4 µm organic feature (OR). A relative reflectance spectrum of the ROR area relative to the background reference area is Figure 2. HAMO data of ROR for the Ernutet region illustrat- shown above to illustrate the character of the 3.4 µm absorp- ing independent estimates of spatial distribution. TOP: tion. High resolution LAMO FC images of this ROR example Brightness images from (A) VIR at 1200 nm and (B) FC at 965 area are shown in Fig. 3 nm. BOTTOM: Spectral parameters stretched for spatial com- Ceres ROR materials are found across the northern parison. (C) VIR intensity of 3.4 µm organic absorption strength. (D) FC 965/438 nm color ratio identifying areas of latitudes generally above 45°N and between 20° and “red” continuum slope at visible wavelengths. Initial impres- 90°E longitude. The highest concentration is associated sions suggest the three floor craters and part of Ernutet SW within and along the SW rim of Ernutet crater and a wall expose ROR materials. comparable highly degraded crater to the SW. Ernutet Average Ceres exhibits a dark, generally featureless crater is a 52 km diameter impact structure at the center spectrum across visible wavelengths at the resolution of the Coniraya quadrangle (52.9°N/45.5°E) [7]. It is obtained from Dawn’s higher orbits, but subtle varia- partially degraded and has no identifiable ejecta blanket tions of a few percent are spatially coherent and mapped but exhibits a central peak and intact crater walls. The globally [6]. However, there are notable exceptions, Lunar and Planetary Science XLVIII (2017) 1296.pdf each with distinct geologic properties, namely large ROR areas, we hypothesize these small craters (f) to fresh craters (which are relatively blue) and special fea- have formed together within a short period of time. The tures exist within and across both Occator and Ernutet 6.5 km crater of area C and lobate flows have been dated craters [6, 8]. at ~40-50 My [7] so the small craters exposing ROR oc- curred later. No regional thermal anomalies are ob- served across the Ernutet region with VIR data to 5 µm. The high resolution data identifying the location and distribution of the red organic-rich material on Ceres is important for identifying the origin of the or- ganic material. A clear association of ROR with very small fresh craters strongly suggests a near-surface lo- cation. Two possibilities are being discussed for the origin of ROR, each with wide-ranging implications for understanding organic material in the solar system: Endogenic organic material formed on Ceres. In addition to hydrated silicates, Dawn has documented the presence of ammonium phyllosilicates and carbonates on Ceres [2,3,4]. The production of the latter two ap- pears to be a result of early global scale aqueous altera- tion [3,9]. Since the relative abundance of organic ma- terial observed at Ernutet is greater than the abundance found in primitive meteorites, a similar endogenic origin is viable. However, the localized surficial charac- ter of ROR and lack of any large crater exhibiting simi- lar properties challenges the internal source hypothesis. Exogenic organic material delivered to Ceres re- cently. The distinct red continuum of these small ROR craters is opposite that documented for large fresh cra- ters on Ceres [6,8] highlighting their uniqueness. The pattern of these small fresh red craters and similar dif- fuse markings (below 35 m resolution) found across a limited region in the north suggests deposition by highly Figure 3. LAMO FC images of Ernutet SW rim. Two of the unconsolidated material. This would require a mecha- three floor craters are outlined. The white arrow indicates the nism for retaining the organic material during emplace- location of ROR spectra in Fig. 1. Top: 965 nm brightness im- ment on Ceres, such as suggested by [10]. A viable ex- age. Bottom: 965/438 nm ratio image identifying ROR areas with a notable ‘red’ visible continuum. All are associated with ternal source (currently unknown) for the concentrated small fresh craters at or below the 35 m resolution. [Lower organics needs to be found or hypothesized to cross left has residual registration errors. Shadows are masked.] Ceres location at ~2.8 AU in the solar system. Based on superposition and relative sharpness of In addition to pursuing the fundamental origin of features in FC HAMO and LAMO images, the sequence the organic materials on Ceres, there are several basic of pertinent events in the Ernutet region is the following: lessons learned from Ernutet. The first is that inferences (a) as part of the evolving crust of Ceres the old now made using only low resolution data may be found to be heavily eroded ~50 km crater SW of Ernutet was inadequate (or wrong) when high resolution data be- formed, (b) Ernutet crater formed with a central peak, comes available. Secondly (a lesson we continue to re- (c) several sections of wall material slumped onto the learn), our current knowledge of solar system materials floor of Ernutet, (d) a group of 3 craters (largest ~4 km) based largely on meteorites is enormously incomplete. SW of the central peak formed on Ernutet floor materi- References: [1] Russell et al., (2016) Science, 353 (6303) als (not likely simultaneous), (e) a 6.5 km fresh crater 1008-1010. [2] De Sanctis et al., (2015) Nature 528, 241–244. ~70km to the west formed on the rim of Hakumyi [3] Ammannto et al. (2016) Science, 353 aaf4279 [4] De Sanc- (termed area C not shown here but described in [5]), tis et al., (2016) Nature 536, 54-57 [5] De Sanctis et al., (2017) with a near simultaneous lobate flows of material from Science, in press. [6] Nathues et al. (2016) Pl. Sp. Sci., dx.doi. area C [7], (f) a family of small impact craters (a few org/10.1016/j.pss.2016.10.017. [7] Pasckert et al., (2016) Ica- 100 m or less) exposed or deposited ROR material rus, submitted. [8] Schmedemann et al. (2017) GRL submitted across Ernutet, area C, and at several other small local- [9] Castillo-Rogez et al., (2017) MaPS, submitted [10] Daly ized areas. Given the uniform youth and uniqueness of and Schultz (2015) GRL doi:10.1002/2015GL065601. .