Charon tectonics
Abstract
New Horizons images of Pluto's companion Charon show a variety of terrains that display extensional tectonic features, with relief surprising for this relatively small world. These features suggest a global extensional areal strain of order 1% early in Charon's history. Such extension is consistent with the presence of an ancient global ocean, now frozen.
- Publication:
-
Icarus
- Pub Date:
- May 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.icarus.2016.12.018
- Bibcode:
- 2017Icar..287..161B
- Keywords:
-
- Pluto;
- Charon;
- Geological processes;
- Tectonics;
- Image processing