Astronomers have confirmed the existence of six massive landslides on Pluto using data from NASA’s 2015 New Horizons flyby. Published in the journal Icarus, the study reveals these features occur along crater walls near Sputnik Planitia, with some debris aprons large enough to bury a small city on Earth.
New Evidence from the New Horizons Mission
Nearly 11 years after the New Horizons spacecraft performed its historic close flyby of Pluto on July 4, 2015, researchers have identified clear geomorphological evidence of landslides on the dwarf planet. While previous missions and observations had confirmed similar geological activity on Mars, Ceres, and Pluto’s moon Charon, this marks the first time such features have been explicitly confirmed on Pluto itself.
The discovery was led by geologist Marco Emanuele Discenza, who directed a team in a meticulous re-examination of high-resolution imagery captured by the spacecraft’s Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). This instrument allowed the team to discern surface features as small as 984 feet (300 meters). The analysis details six distinct landslides located along the steep inner walls of three impact craters near the western edge of Sputnik Planitia.
Landslide Scale and Mobility in Low Gravity
The scale of these Plutonian landslides is significant. The largest debris apron identified covers approximately 50 square miles (130 square kilometers). Researchers noted that the drop heights for these events range between 1.5 and 2.2 kilometers, with runout distances—the length the material traveled—extending between 10.1 and 14.5 kilometers.
These landslides are among the most mobile features observed in the solar system. The debris often appears bumpy, suggesting the presence of large boulders of solid ice. Scientists believe the unusual efficiency with which this material traveled is a result of low gravity combined with low-friction icy rubble. One specific landslide in the Coughlin crater appears to have been triggered by a nearby impact, while the origins of the other five remain a subject of active scientific inquiry.
Thermal Stress and Potential Triggers
While the trigger for the Coughlin crater landslide is linked to a secondary impact, the drivers for the remaining features are less certain. One primary hypothesis involves thermal stresses within the surface ice.
The research team suggests that these landslides are a testament to Pluto’s ongoing geological activity, even if that activity occurs on a slow, geological timescale.
Comparative Geological Processes
The confirmation of these landslides adds a new dimension to our understanding of the Kuiper Belt. By measuring the geometry of the collapsed material, scientists are beginning to constrain how icy debris behaves in environments unlike those found on terrestrial rocky planets. The findings suggest that mass movement is a fundamental process in shaping the surfaces of even the most remote, frozen worlds.
While the study of Pluto’s landslides remains in its early stages, the data collected by the New Horizons mission continues to provide insight into the solar system’s evolution. As researchers continue to analyze the imagery, the focus remains on how gravity and thermal fluctuations interact to reshape the surface of this complex dwarf planet.
Sources: hindi.news18.com, space.com.
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