July 7th 2018
Recently I was staring at a water signature map of Pluto, looking for patterns that I may not have seen previously.
This water signature map shows a couple interesting intense water ice bullets running horizontally across this image starting near the bottom right at Kilauea volcano.
There are a series of bright dots representing a more intense presence of water ice at these locations.
The image is too blurry to pick out fine details so I needed to transpose these dots and smudges of water ice onto a map with clear details so I could determine what the terrain looked like at these concentrated water ice locations.
The image is too blurry to pick out fine details so I needed to transpose these dots and smudges of water ice onto a map with clear details so I could determine what the terrain looked like at these concentrated water ice locations.
While this image offered more clarity, I needed to see the entire area of Viking Terra. Take note of how the blue water signature is concentrated within several crater holes (pink arrows) as well as the expansion fracture and inside the mouth of Kilauea but not Bread Slice or Elliot. Nitrogen and methane dissolve into one another with some areas being nitrogen dominant and others being methane dominant. The hydrocarbon tholins like ethane, acetylene and ethylene appear to dissolve into or at least overlap in some of the same areas as the water ice signature maps but not all areas. This suggests to me that one of the hydrocarbons is more soluble with water ice than the others.
The unnamed craters containing water ice dominant signatures show a pattern.
The unnamed craters containing water ice dominant signatures show a pattern.
- Elliot, Bread Slice and the Five Sisters (not visible in this image) cryovolcanoes display a pattern of nitrogen volcanic activity.
- The expansion fractures with signs of water ice define the north and south boundary of the bulging Viking Terra zone.
- Several unnamed craters displaying water ice signatures establish a southern boarder inline with Elliot, Bread Slice and Kilauea volcanoes.
- Nitrogen spills out the mouth of some cryovolcanoes
- An intense water ice signature is focused inside particular craters and these craters create a horizontally aligned southern boundary pattern
- Water ice exists within expansion fractures
- The central area of Viking Terra is elevated
Some craters contain water ice signatures while others do not. This shows that they are formed from different processes. Some are formed from external processes (impacts) while others are formed from internal processes (venting heat).
Or
There is a concentration of one type of tholin that more readily acts as an antifreeze when combined with water ice. The icebergs east of Kilauea's pahoehoe favor this second scenario. The cracks and craters favor internal pressure. Both these processes can be combined in a process called subduction.
Or
There is a concentration of one type of tholin that more readily acts as an antifreeze when combined with water ice. The icebergs east of Kilauea's pahoehoe favor this second scenario. The cracks and craters favor internal pressure. Both these processes can be combined in a process called subduction.
I drew teal lines representing the water ice signatures from the less detailed images onto this more highly detailed image this way we can get a better since of the landscape and terrain in the exact location where increased water ice is detected. While Its difficult to see the teal outlines which I drew in the above image, you will see them more clearly when I zoom in.
I numbered the more dominant water ice signatures so I could talk about them. The most obvious and strongest evidence of water in this image is the horizontal fracture listed as feature 5, followed by feature 12 then there are a series of horizontal bright dots 3, 4, 6 & 7. These bright spots (3, 4, 6 & 7) align directly with the less bright spots 1 (mouth of Kilauea) and 2. As the water ice signature turns north 8, 9, 10 & 11 the pattern becomes more muddled or diffuse but generally speaking it encircles Viking Terra.
Take a close look at the mouth of Kilauea and craters numbered 2 & 3 in the above image. The orange tholin sits down inside the central portion of the mouth. The edges of the icebergs in SP are bordered by lightly colored orange tholin with a high water ice signature. This may suggest, mixing the nitrogen with the tholin forms a diluted tholin tar.
This tar appears to slide off the icebergs and into the nitrogen SP icy fluid.
Along this fracture it can clearly be seen that the red tholin is not as red as the surrounding tholin, its more of an orange color. A natural question to arise from this observation is, is the tholin orange at all the points where the water ice signature is strongest? As a general rule the answer is yes but only where there is an obvious sign of the bedrock ice having been penetrated either through a crack (expansion fracture) or a hole (crater). Craters 3, 4 and 6 in the above image all have tholin which is lighter (orange) than other nearby craters.
This discolorization could either be from external (atmospheric) or internal (endothermic) processes or some combination of the two. If solely an external process then one would expect it to occur everywhere distributed evenly just like we see the dominant red tholin or white methane snow dispersed evenly across the surface. Instead we mostly see this orange material clustered around fractures and/or holes or along the edges of clustered icebergs inside SP. The holes are likely a different (created by slightly different processes) form of volcano than what we see at Elliot. Elliot is a volcano driven by nitrogen while these orange colored mountains with holes appear to be driven more by a mixture of water ice and tholin.
The sidewall of the crack has the same colored look as the orange tholin tar that slid off the edges of the icebergs.
This discolorization could either be from external (atmospheric) or internal (endothermic) processes or some combination of the two. If solely an external process then one would expect it to occur everywhere distributed evenly just like we see the dominant red tholin or white methane snow dispersed evenly across the surface. Instead we mostly see this orange material clustered around fractures and/or holes or along the edges of clustered icebergs inside SP. The holes are likely a different (created by slightly different processes) form of volcano than what we see at Elliot. Elliot is a volcano driven by nitrogen while these orange colored mountains with holes appear to be driven more by a mixture of water ice and tholin.
The sidewall of the crack has the same colored look as the orange tholin tar that slid off the edges of the icebergs.
If you look close at these orange colored holes (labeled 3 - 6) you can see they are mounds or mountains with a central mouth containing orange tholin. Mountain 4 has a wide swath of atmospherically deposited white methane snow (blue outline) running from about 11 o-clock down to and around Elliot crater. Mountain 4 sits right in the middle of this white powder and its central mouth is covered in darker orange material as though the orange material was deposited on top of the white snow or the white snow was evaporated off mountain four's peak. Methane snow comes from the north and travels south and it accumulates on higher elevated surfaces. Mountain four's central peak is elevated above the circular depression at its base where there is white snow but the central mountain itself is clear. The north facing side of the peak should be covered in white snow as the methane deposited snow is assumed to be a seasonal dusting process. Number four's central mound should not be covered in orange tholin which takes a long time to atmospherically develop compared to the white snow.
Either this orange material was deposited on top of the white snow after the snow was deposited or this mountain is warm enough to evaporate away the white methane. Elliot is involved in a different process as the N2 expelling from its mouth does not cause the red tholin along its edges to discolor and turn orange.
Either this orange material was deposited on top of the white snow after the snow was deposited or this mountain is warm enough to evaporate away the white methane. Elliot is involved in a different process as the N2 expelling from its mouth does not cause the red tholin along its edges to discolor and turn orange.
I've outlined in teal where there are signs of strong concentrated water signatures along with diffuse muddled water signatures. The diffuse water signature seems to be where dark red patches of tholin are dispersed over large swaths of land ice while bright concentrated water signatures align with discolored orange tholin found in cracks or holes. The light colored tholin in the mouth of holes and cracks is orange with a strong bright blue water signature. The dark red tholin which is more broadly dispersed on the surface displays a muddled diffuse water signature.
It appears as though the red tholin is ejected out of the holes or cracks and settles on the nearby surface. Where it disperses across the land we see a muddled water ice signature, where it ejects out of the holes or cracks we see a high concentration of water ice. Nearer the source of ejection and where the tholin rest on the side walls of cracks or holes the tholin appears to mingle with the water ice more intensely washing out the red color turning it orange. The orange colored tholin is water ice intense.
It appears as though the red tholin is ejected out of the holes or cracks and settles on the nearby surface. Where it disperses across the land we see a muddled water ice signature, where it ejects out of the holes or cracks we see a high concentration of water ice. Nearer the source of ejection and where the tholin rest on the side walls of cracks or holes the tholin appears to mingle with the water ice more intensely washing out the red color turning it orange. The orange colored tholin is water ice intense.
Connecting the bright and diffuse water signature points around Viking Terra shows a bit of a ring pattern that runs from Kilauea across the top of Elliot crater west to Piri Planitia up north to the expansion fracture back through a portion of this fracture and south through two unnamed craters which I've circled in pink and labeled number 12. These two craters at 12 are producing some of the brightest water ice signatures in this entire area.
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If you look at this area as though the red material is heavy but was also ejected out of the mouth of the two craters/volcanoes (12) after which the seasonal white methane snow has covered the elevated peaks, then the scene makes sense. The tholin appears to have been ejected out of these two craters.
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The tholin inside the craters is more orange than the tholin outside the craters but the entire area displays a centrally intense water signature focused around these two craters. The water signature diffuses as the tholin disperses further away from these two points. To the south east of these two large craters is a very small orange mountain peaked (volcano) near a small orange vent hole.
Artesian Pingo
Pingos on Earth come in two flavors and look similar to these Pluto mound and crater features with strong water ice signatures which contain a lighter colored orange tholin.
Crater 12 above appears to be a hydrostatice pingo while 3, 4 & 6 appear to be artesian.
Crater 12 above appears to be a hydrostatice pingo while 3, 4 & 6 appear to be artesian.
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Hydrostatic Pingo
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Artesian pressure is underground positive water pressure which build pingo mounds, on Pluto this could be a briny solution of ethane oil mixed with water ice or simply a concentrated mix of tholins with the dominant tholin being ethane building water signature based mounds. Under pressure, ethane could build pingo mounds.
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Hydrostatic pressure is pressure that fills voids in a porous material seeping into small openings.
Pumice is a porous volcanice rock that can actually float on water because of all the air pockets. With less gravity, Pluto's rock hard land ice would naturally be more porous than Earth ice making Pluto's ice more permeable. These cavities in Pluto's water ice could, under pressure get filled with oily ethane tholin forming hydrostatic pingo craters on Pluto. We see signs of both pingo processes taking place at Viking Terra. |
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All these observations point to one fact. Pressure is pushing subsurface material onto the surface of Viking Terra whether its nitrogen/methane based or water ice/tholin based.
How do I explain the presence of this light colored orange material?
Quote
For ocean worlds, two significant interfaces are recognized: water-ice (B.1) and water-rock (B.2). These interfaces are not limited to the obvious boundaries between solid and liquid media, however. Sediment porewater, subsurface aquifers, ice brine channels, and melt lenses are all examples of interfaces existing away from the major zone of transition. These features are particularly significant because they extend the surface area of the water-rock or ice-water interface far beyond what is suggested by obvious, large-scale boundaries. For some bodies, ice brine channels and melt lenses also constitute interfaces that are much closer to the surface (and thus potentially easier to study) than would otherwise be the case.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103596901128
“Organic heteropolymers that we call here ice tholin II have been produced by plasma discharge irradiation of water/methanol/carbon dioxide/ethane cocondensed ices in a rough simulation of cometary chemistry... Intermediate products including polyalcohols, ethers, esters, carboxylic acids, and hydrocarbons are also produced... Preliminary chemical analyses of ice tholin using spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques lead to the conclusion that ice tholin contains a significant degree of polyalcohol functionality... Ice tholin II shows some spectroscopic similarities to 1:6 ethane/water ice tholin (ice tholin I), but overall the two are chemically distinct.
How do I explain the presence of this light colored orange material?
Quote
For ocean worlds, two significant interfaces are recognized: water-ice (B.1) and water-rock (B.2). These interfaces are not limited to the obvious boundaries between solid and liquid media, however. Sediment porewater, subsurface aquifers, ice brine channels, and melt lenses are all examples of interfaces existing away from the major zone of transition. These features are particularly significant because they extend the surface area of the water-rock or ice-water interface far beyond what is suggested by obvious, large-scale boundaries. For some bodies, ice brine channels and melt lenses also constitute interfaces that are much closer to the surface (and thus potentially easier to study) than would otherwise be the case.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0019103596901128
“Organic heteropolymers that we call here ice tholin II have been produced by plasma discharge irradiation of water/methanol/carbon dioxide/ethane cocondensed ices in a rough simulation of cometary chemistry... Intermediate products including polyalcohols, ethers, esters, carboxylic acids, and hydrocarbons are also produced... Preliminary chemical analyses of ice tholin using spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques lead to the conclusion that ice tholin contains a significant degree of polyalcohol functionality... Ice tholin II shows some spectroscopic similarities to 1:6 ethane/water ice tholin (ice tholin I), but overall the two are chemically distinct.
Pluto's atmosphere is layered into bands of gasses one of which is methane.
Solar and cosmic rays interact with the atmosphere's CH4 producing other hydrocarbon compounds such as acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4) and ethane (C2H6)..
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These tholin compounds are heavy enough to fall from the sky and settle onto the surface.
Ethane’s melting point is 88.6-90.4 K making it the hydrocarbon most capable of dissolving at Pluto temperatures. Nitrogen's triple point temperature is 63 K and we know N2 reaches triple point conditions. Ethane is an antifreeze agent. |
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On Earth many volcanoes are created via subduction, a process in which one land mass slides under another generating enough heat from friction to melt rock.
On Pluto rock hard water ice is the land and at the edge of Viking Terra where the land ice crust meets Sputnik Planitia (SP) there are signs that massive ice crust slabs have broken and are getting pushed down into the nitrogen ice and is likely folded under and pressed beneath the surface crust.
Pluto's skin slips from south east to north west which would drive a subsurface crust under Viking Terra. If true polar wonder (skin slip) is taking place (and it is) then heat is being created from this process of various ice shells grinding against each other. If there are 3 shells near the surface then the inner shells will travel faster than the outer shell as it has less distance to travel when exposed to the same slip torquing process. This would have the effect of driving subsurface ice shells in a NW direction faster than outer crust ice shells. This is also probably why we see Norgay Montes pressing into Wright Mons.
Viking Terra is bulging, has nitrogen volcanoes and water ice/tholin ejected from cracks and craters. Subduction is the most likely explanation for all this Viking Terra pressure build up. The subducting ices grinding away below Viking Terra show signs of volcanic activity with a relatively weak energy signature as there are no dark mineral plume deposits. The color of the fluid nitrogen ice at east of Viking Terra (yellowish/red vs grayish/red) denotes a different energy level than what we see at the southern pit of SP near Norgay Montes which is Pluto's heart beat and the central point of Charon's gravitational torquing tidal flex energy focus.
On Pluto rock hard water ice is the land and at the edge of Viking Terra where the land ice crust meets Sputnik Planitia (SP) there are signs that massive ice crust slabs have broken and are getting pushed down into the nitrogen ice and is likely folded under and pressed beneath the surface crust.
Pluto's skin slips from south east to north west which would drive a subsurface crust under Viking Terra. If true polar wonder (skin slip) is taking place (and it is) then heat is being created from this process of various ice shells grinding against each other. If there are 3 shells near the surface then the inner shells will travel faster than the outer shell as it has less distance to travel when exposed to the same slip torquing process. This would have the effect of driving subsurface ice shells in a NW direction faster than outer crust ice shells. This is also probably why we see Norgay Montes pressing into Wright Mons.
Viking Terra is bulging, has nitrogen volcanoes and water ice/tholin ejected from cracks and craters. Subduction is the most likely explanation for all this Viking Terra pressure build up. The subducting ices grinding away below Viking Terra show signs of volcanic activity with a relatively weak energy signature as there are no dark mineral plume deposits. The color of the fluid nitrogen ice at east of Viking Terra (yellowish/red vs grayish/red) denotes a different energy level than what we see at the southern pit of SP near Norgay Montes which is Pluto's heart beat and the central point of Charon's gravitational torquing tidal flex energy focus.
Atmospherically Pluto produces ethane which is a hydrocarbon (hydrogen/carbon molecule) tholin that melts at a mere 88 - 90 degrees kelvin. Ethane is a solvent antifreeze that would intermix with subsurface water ice crystals creating a water ice brine mix dominantly containing ethane forming channels along which volcanoes would form. These cryovolcanoes would spew out the water/ethane tholin mixture and instantly freeze. The heavier hydrocarbon would disperse into diffuse patterns around vent holes (cryovolcanoes) primarily dispersing into down wind (north to south) shaped patterns (depending on the density or ratio of the tholin to water ice mixture). The higher concentration of low melting point ethane contained in the volcanically ejected material would have a tendency to intermix more heavily with water ices diluting its red color turning it orange near the source of greatest heat which is the cracks and holes from which it escaped.
Some cryovolcanic processes at Viking Terra like Elliot, Bread Slice and the Five Sisters are formed from the same process (Pluto wobble and are nitrogen/methane based) which is creating Sputnik Planitia. While other cryovolcanic pingo processes with a water ice/tholin signature are probably created by subduction heat which ultimately is also tied to Pluto wobble as this causes skin slip which drives subduction.
Ethane is the most likely of the detected hydrocarbons to cause this orange colored water ice signature in cracks and craters as its melting point is the lowest of the detected hydrocarbons. Subduction processes could transport the ethane underground. While its entirely possible that this could be an atmospheric process, its noteworthy that these orange features concentrate within the dormant Kilauea volcano, inside pingo mounds, craters and hot process expansion fractures and these features exist along the perimeter of Viking Terra which itself shows several signs of volcanic activity.
Ethane is the most likely of the detected hydrocarbons to cause this orange colored water ice signature in cracks and craters as its melting point is the lowest of the detected hydrocarbons. Subduction processes could transport the ethane underground. While its entirely possible that this could be an atmospheric process, its noteworthy that these orange features concentrate within the dormant Kilauea volcano, inside pingo mounds, craters and hot process expansion fractures and these features exist along the perimeter of Viking Terra which itself shows several signs of volcanic activity.