Scientists have found evidence that the ice volcanos of Ceres erupted continuously about four million years ago, giving insight into the still mysterious nature of cryovolcanism. The bright material in the basin of Ceres' Occator crater is believed to be mineral salts deposited by cryovolcanic eruptions that occurred some 30 million years after the crater itself formed from an impact. The findings suggest that Ceres has had an active geologic history with cryovolcanic eruptions occurring for an extended period of time.

A cryovolcano is a volcano that spits out water ice, ammonia, or methane liquids as opposed molten rock. They've been detected on various icy moons within the solar system, from Uranus's Miranda to Jupiter's Ganymede. But the cryovolcanoes of Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, are special. Ahuna Dome, the largest mountain on the dwarf planet—standing about two and a half miles high—is a "volcanic dome unlike any seen elsewhere in the solar system," as revealed by data from NASA's Dawn spacecraft.

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Scientists at the Max Planck Institute were able to learn about Ahuna Mons by studying another of Ceres' notable points, the Occator crater. Fifty-seven miles in diameter and as deep as Ahuna is tall, there has always been a sense of brotherly familiarity between the two points. Both are relatively young and differ in composition from the rest of Ceres. Now, the Max Planck Institute has determined that the mysterious white substance within the Occator has origins in Ahuna Mons, which in turn has origins in Occator.

"The large impact that tore the giant Occator crater into the surface of the dwarf planet must have originally started everything and triggered the later cryovolcanic activity," says Andreas Nathues, Framing Camera Lead Investigator for Max Planck. After the disruption, rock was reshuffled on the planet and moved closer to the surface. The lower pressure near the surface allowed water and dissolved gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, to escape through what eventually became a volcano. This geological process on Ceres eventually created a dome within Occator that "contains the brightest material on Ceres," says Max Planck scientist Thomas Platz.

Occator and Ahuna in the same shot. Occator has the bright white material in it, Ahuna is the bump on the far right. NASA-JPL

Information from Dawn's Visual and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VIR) show that the material, which scientists have called Cerealia Facula, is rich in certain salts. "The age and appearance of the material surrounding the bright dome indicate that Cerealia Facula was formed by a recurring, eruptive process, which also hurled material into more outward regions of the central pit," says Nathues.

The research team believes the eruptive process wasn't one giant incident, but rather a series of smaller explosions over an extended period of time. Similar domes have been found on Ganymede, leading scientists to believe that they share a definite relationship to the cryovolcanic activity on Ceres. It's unclear if Ceres is still cryovolcanically active in its subterranean crust beyond Dawn's detection.

When approaching Ceres, scientists were not expecting any geologic activity at all, let alone insights into cryovolcanism. Much like the ocean of Enceladus, the ice volcanoes of Ceres offer a powerful example of how space exploration can reveal wonders that no one had even considered.

Source: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

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