Abstract
One of the main tasks of the Dawn mission is to characterize the potentially ice-rich crust of the dwarf planet Ceres. Ongoing studies reveal morphological features related to ice-rich material such as pits or particular landslides. Here we report the identification of ring-mold craters within the huge impact crater Occator. The Cerean ring-mold craters exhibit strong morphological similarities to the ring-mold craters on Mars, where ice-rich material is thought to be involved in such crater development. We discuss the occurrence of water ice reservoirs in the subsurface and assume that ice-rich material likely plays an important role in the development of ring-mold craters on Ceres. The occurrence of ring-mold craters on the surface of Ceres is not only a sign of water ice reservoirs in the subsurface but can also be used for the study of habitable zones on planetary bodies.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 8121-8128 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Geophysical Research Letters |
Volume | 45 |
Issue number | 16 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 28 2018 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geophysics
- General Earth and Planetary Sciences