Geological Society of America

T166 Ceres' Surface Composition as an Indication of Interior Evolution (Posters)

Monday, 26 September 2016
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall E/F

MINERALOGY OF RONGO QUANDRANGLE ON CERES

Paper number: T166-9
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Francesca Zambon Presenting Author
IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome
Ernesto Palomba
IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome
Lucy McFadden
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
Thomas Platz
Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen
Katrin Stephan
Institute of Planetary Research, Berlin
Katrin Krohn
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin
Alessandro Frigeri
IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome
Christopher T. Russell
University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Carol A. Raymond
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA
Filippo Giacomo Carrozzo
IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome
Federico Tosi
IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome
Mauro Ciarniello
IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome
Jean-Philippe Combe
Bear Fight Institute, Winthrop, WA
Maria Cristina De Sanctis
INAF, Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetolgia Spaziali, Rome
Eleonora Ammannito
Goettingen
Andrea Longobardo
INAF - Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Rome
Andrea Raponi
IAPS - Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome

Abstract

After more than one year orbit around Ceres, Dawn spacecraft covered large part of its surface, allowing for a global mineralogical mapping of the entire surface. For mapping purposes, likewise for Vesta, also Ceres’ surface has been divided in 15 quadrangles. Here we describe the quadrangle Ac-H-10 Rongo located in the equatorial region (288°-360°E, 22S-22N) of Ceres. VIR, the visible and infrared spectrometer onboard Dawn, acquired data at different spatial resolutions, allowing for identify the various mineralogical phases characteristic of Ceres surface, at global and local scale [1,2]. Ceres spectra present several bands in the spectral region between 2.5 and 4-µm. Spectral parameters retrieved by VIR data indicate a widespread distribution of NH₄-phillosilicates, and OH-rich clays [1]. Rongo quadrangle contains about five gelogical units [3], not always associated with mineralogical variations. The depth of the 3.1-µm band, due to the presence of NH₄–Phyllosicates, is quite homogeneous except for some localized regions in which this band appear shallower, and a similar trend is observed for the OH-singnature at 2.7-µm. The dominant feature of this quadrangle is Ahuna Mons, a unique case on Ceres [4]. Ahuna Mons is the largest mountain of the dwarf planet, and conversely to other geological units, shows a spectral parmeters variation with respect to other areas, linked to mineralogical differences.

[1] De Sanctis et al., 2015 Nature

[2] Ammannito et al., 2016 Science

[3] Platz et al., 2016, in preparation

[4] Ruesch et al., 2016, Science

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 48, No. 7

doi: 10.1130/abs/2016AM-284649

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