Paris – (AFP) – Strange coagulated liquid masses found on the surface of the planet Pluto and not previously observed in the solar system indicate that ice volcanoes were active until a relatively not distant era from this dwarf planet, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal “Nature Communication”.
An analysis of images taken by NASA’s “New Horizons” probe shows that Pluto’s internal temperature remained higher than thought long enough for these volcanoes to form.
Instead of spewing out lava, glacial volcanoes are releasing a “thick, humid mixture of water and ice, perhaps even a solid glacier-like outflow,” planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute in Colorado Kelsey Singer told AFP.
Singer, who participated in preparing the study, added that the presence of ice volcanoes on several moons in the solar system, such as Triton, was known, but Pluto’s volcanoes “look completely different from any volcanoes observed before.”
She noted that “there are large areas of large ice volcanoes (…) characterized by undulating terrain” on this planet located on the edge of the solar system.
She explained that it is difficult to determine an exact date for the formation of these volcanoes, but they are likely to be “a few hundred million years or even less”, which is an almost negligible time period in a history spanning billions of years.
Scientists do not rule out the possibility of ice volcanoes still forming in the area where these blocks are located, given that they are devoid of impact craters caused by meteorites.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, a planetary scientist specializing in glacial volcanoes, Lenai Kwik of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, considered these results “very important, as they indicate that a small celestial body such as Pluto, which is supposed to have lost most of its internal temperature for a long time, managed From storing enough energy to fuel extensive geological activity that occurred at a later stage in its history.”
She stressed that “these ideas will help us reconsider the possibility of storing water in the small, icy worlds far from the sun,” including Jupiter and the moons Ganymede, Europa and Callisto.
For his part, David Rothrie, a professor of planetary geosciences at The Open University in the United Kingdom, said that “the factor that provided the heat needed for these ice volcanoes to erupt is unknown.”
One of these volcanoes is Mount Wright, which is about five kilometers high and 150 kilometers wide. Its size is similar to Mauna Loa in Hawaii, one of the largest volcanoes on Earth.
These ice volcanoes are formed on Pluto, although it is much smaller than Earth, to the point that the ninth planet in the solar system in terms of size, was reduced to the rank of dwarf planets in 2006.
And the “New Horizons” probe, which took the pictures, is the first spacecraft that participated in the exploration process of Pluto in 2015. “We still have a lot to learn about the solar system,” Singer says.
