Ceres’ Broad‐Scale Surface Geomorphology Largely Due To Asymmetric Internal Convection

Abstract

AbstractWhile we now know much about the volatile‐rich world of Ceres from the Dawn mission, the deep interior remains something of an enigma, shrouded by a crust composed of water ice, carbonates, phyllosilicates, salts and clathrate hydrates. While smaller than most active moons or planets, Ceres has many features commonly associated with active, icy bodies including: hydrothermal, cryovolcanic, and tectonic features. Yet on active icy moons tidal heating is a significant component of the thermal budget; it is unclear whether radiogenic heating alone would be sufficient to supply the heat necessary for Ceres' interior to undergo solid‐state convection. Here we show that transient asymmetric convection develops as the temperature within the body rises from heat generated by the decay of long‐lived radionuclides (e.g., U, Th, K). The onset of transient asymmetric convection may reconcile a number of puzzling features on Ceres including: the missing large craters, Hanami Planum—the region of thickened crust, the gravity and crustal thickness, and the lithospheric stress state represented by the Samhain Catenae. Hemispheric‐scale instabilities may also be important in the evolution of small bodies with small cores throughout the solar system, including the small icy moons of Saturn and Uranus as well as Kuiper belt objects.