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The shock wave phonon energy from those impacts liquefied the nitrogen methane mix below the surface while knocking off some of Pluto's crust creating the four small moons one of which has evidence of red tholin from an impact which likely came from the tholin covered land ice at SP. >>>>>>>> |
>>>>>>>> The thicker gray material (likely nitrogen) can reach its triple point during Pluto's summer when the atmospheric pressure rises high enough and becomes an actual liquid. This heavy material accumulates on low elevated surfaces running off like tributaries and lakes softening the rock hard land ice. >>>>>>>> |
It appears as though the fluid from SP migrates eastwards into the wetlands and on through Tartarus Dorsa (Desert Dunes) and beyond.
The fluid at SP has a different reddish pinkish hue since tholin is dissolved into the nitrogen/methane mix. The fluid east of SP which is creating the wetlands and raised mounds at Tartarus Dorsa appears to have a different composition as the grayish hue and landscape appear totally different than SP and westward. East of SP the land is elevated but with sharp jagged peaks formed into young (no impacts) rolling spiked mounds. This image demonstrates how a wide long band of land ice has been softened by the nitrogen flowing out of SP. Since there are no impacts in this region the surface must be firm enough to hold its shape but pliable enough to absorb impacts. Sorta like frozen mud crust which when impacted collapses but then fills rather quickly. >>>>>>>> |
>>>>>>>> As fluid and land ice mix and melt together east of SP, vents release moist gasses which build up and are blown southward by Pluto's winds creating the mud dauber like mounds. The subsurface fluid bubbles up in some places and vents in other places while the fog coats the surface softening the land ice such that impacts are not seen in this area. The mixture of these two effects along with the cold fast winds build up the mud daubers into raised rims around the vents near SP and bent over mud dauber desert dune mounds further from SP's heat source. >>>>>>>> >>>>>>>> West of the equatorial region of the ridge line, small cryovolcanoes erupt releasing pressure from the squeezing effect of the icebergs and the subsurface nitrogen this pressure has also created the burp bulge (NASA's Viking Terra) >>>>>>>> This is all just speculation but it's my best guess based on what I see and know but I could be wrong. |
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As the planet rotates the sublimated nitrogen fog in the air along with the subsurface nitrogen fluid tend to travel in an easterly direction. This has set up conditions for creating the wetlands and mud dauber desert dunes. Since nitrogen expands when warmed to a fluid state the land ice to the east of SP primarily fractures from expansion as seen at the Spider. One question I have about Tartarus Dorsa is, where is the white snow methane capped peaks? <<<<<<<< <<<<<<<
West of SP we see iceberg mountains up to 2.5 miles high with red tar like tholin covered old (many impacts) rock hard land ice. The icebergs floating on the surface tend to collide with the land ice (due to the polygonal cellular mounds being raised higher at the center of SP than at the edges) this creates a current that presses outward from the center of SP causing a compressive force which created the ridge line that runs from the North pole to the South. I just realized the fluid flowing toward Norgay Montes suggest it is flowing out of the equatorial (central) area of SP down toward Norgay Montes dropping deep down into Pitts' Pits turning northward and convecting back up again through the center of SP. The strength of this flow is demonstrated by the massive icebergs (Norgay Montes) colliding into and pushing the softened land ice into mud berm looking mounds which are raised 2.5 miles high by the force. Pluto's gravity being much weaker than Earths would not require as much force to push the mud berm this high but the force is never the less significant. The fluid flows like an ocean creating waves that push the icebergs against the land ice. <<<<<<<< |