Migrating Scarps as a Significant Driver for Cometary Mass Loss
Abstract
Rosetta observations of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) reveal that most changes occur in the fallback-generated smooth terrains, vast deposits of granular material blanketing the comet's northern hemisphere. These changes express themselves both morphologically and spectrally across the nucleus, yet we lack a model that describes their formation and evolution. Herein present a self-consistent model that explains the activity and mass loss from 67P's smooth terrains through removal of dust via re-radiated solar insolation. The insolation is localized within depression scarps that are substantially more ice-rich than previously expected. We have coupled the model to Rosetta observations of Hapi's smooth terrains, capturing the seasonal erosion driven by local scarp retreat that gradually removes the uppermost dusty mantle. As sublimation-regolith interactions occur on many bodies, this coupled model can provide a foundation for investigating a myriad of sublimation-carved worlds scattered across the Solar System.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFM.P22A..05H
- Keywords:
-
- 5215 Origin of life;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: ASTROBIOLOGY;
- 6024 Interiors;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: COMETS AND SMALL BODIES;
- 6218 Jovian satellites;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS;
- 6280 Saturnian satellites;
- PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS