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La convección en una capa volátil rica en hielo de nitrógeno impulsa el vigor geológico de Plutón
William B McKinnon1, Francis Nimmo2, Teresa Wong1
1Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St Louis, Saint Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
Nature
|June 3, 2016
Resumen
El Sputnik Planum de Plutón exhibe actividad geológica debido a la convección en estado sólido en su capa de hielo de nitrógeno. Este proceso, impulsado por el flujo de calor, da forma a la superficie helada y puede ocurrir en otros planetas enanos.
Área de la Ciencia:
- Ciencias planetarias
- La geofísica
- Glaciología
Sus antecedentes:
- Sputnik Planum en Plutón es una gran cuenca llena de hielos volátiles, principalmente nitrógeno.
- La superficie de la cuenca está organizada en células de convección, lo que sugiere actividad geológica interna.
Objetivo del estudio:
- Para investigar el potencial de la convección en estado sólido en la capa de hielo de nitrógeno de Sputnik Planum.
- Para explicar la escala observada de las células de convección en la superficie de Plutón.
Principales métodos:
- Análisis de las medidas reológicas disponibles para el hielo de nitrógeno.
- Modelado numérico del vuelco convectivo en una capa de hielo de nitrógeno de varios kilómetros de espesor.
Principales resultados:
- Se predice que las capas de hielo de nitrógeno de más de un kilómetro de espesor convectan bajo las condiciones actuales de flujo de calor en Plutón.
- Las simulaciones numéricas indican que el vuelco convectivo puede explicar el gran ancho lateral de las células superficiales de Sputnik Planum.
- La capa de hielo convecta en un régimen de "cubierta lenta", un modo que no se observa definitivamente en ningún otro lugar del Sistema Solar.
Conclusiones:
- La convección en estado sólido es un probable impulsor de la actividad geológica en Sputnik Planum.
- Los procesos de renovación de la superficie en Plutón ocurren en escalas de tiempo más cortas que la edad estimada de la superficie.
- Procesos convectivos similares pueden explicar las altas albedas de otros planetas enanos del Cinturón de Kuiper.
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