Particle deposition on the saturnian satellites from ephemeral cryovolcanism on Enceladus

Naoyuki Hirata, Hideaki Miyamoto, Adam P. Showman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The geologically active south pole of Enceladus generates a plume of micron-sized particles, which likely form Saturn's tenuous E-ring extending from the orbit of Mimas to Titan. Interactions between these particles and satellites have been suggested, though only as very thin surficial phenomena. We scrutinize high-resolution images with a newly developed numerical shape model of Helene and find that the leading hemisphere of Helene is covered by thick deposits of E-ring particles, which occasionally collapse to form gully-like depressions. The depths of the resultant gullies and near-absence of small craters on the leading hemisphere indicate that the deposit is tens to hundreds of meters thick. The ages of the deposits are less than several tens of My, which coincides well with similar deposits found on Telesto and Calypso. Our findings as well as previous theoretical work collectively indicate that the cryovolcanic activity currently occurring on Enceladus is ephemeral.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)4135-4141
Number of pages7
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume41
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Particle deposition on the saturnian satellites from ephemeral cryovolcanism on Enceladus'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this