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Nimmo F, Hamilton DP, McKinnon WB, et al. Reorientation of Sputnik Planitia implies a subsurface ocean on Pluto. Nature. 2016;540(7631):94-96doi: 10.1038/nature20148.
Nimmo, F., Hamilton, D. P., McKinnon, W. B., Schenk, P. M., Binzel, R. P., Bierson, C. J., Beyer, R. A., Moore, J. M., Stern, S. A., Weaver, H. A., Olkin, C. B., Young, L. A., Smith, K. E. (2016). Reorientation of Sputnik Planitia implies a subsurface ocean on Pluto. Nature, 540(7631), 94-96. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20148
Nimmo, F, et al. "Reorientation of Sputnik Planitia implies a subsurface ocean on Pluto." Nature vol. 540,7631 (2016): 94-96. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature20148
Nimmo F, Hamilton DP, McKinnon WB, Schenk PM, Binzel RP, Bierson CJ, Beyer RA, Moore JM, Stern SA, Weaver HA, Olkin CB, Young LA, Smith KE. Reorientation of Sputnik Planitia implies a subsurface ocean on Pluto. Nature. 2016 Dec 01;540(7631):94-96. doi: 10.1038/nature20148. Epub 2016 Nov 16. PMID: 27851735.
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Nature. 2016 Dec 01;540(7631):94-96. doi: 10.1038/nature20148. Epub 2016 Nov 16.

Reorientation of Sputnik Planitia implies a subsurface ocean on Pluto.

Nature

F Nimmo, D P Hamilton, W B McKinnon, P M Schenk, R P Binzel, C J Bierson, R A Beyer, J M Moore, S A Stern, H A Weaver, C B Olkin, L A Young, K E Smith,

Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA.
  2. Department of Astronomy, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
  3. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St Louis, St Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
  4. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas 77058, USA.
  5. Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
  6. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California 94035, USA.
  7. Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado 80302, USA.
  8. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland 20723, USA.

PMID: 27851735 DOI: 10.1038/nature20148

Abstract

The deep nitrogen-covered basin on Pluto, informally named Sputnik Planitia, is located very close to the longitude of Pluto's tidal axis and may be an impact feature, by analogy with other large basins in the Solar System. Reorientation of Sputnik Planitia arising from tidal and rotational torques can explain the basin's present-day location, but requires the feature to be a positive gravity anomaly, despite its negative topography. Here we argue that if Sputnik Planitia did indeed form as a result of an impact and if Pluto possesses a subsurface ocean, the required positive gravity anomaly would naturally result because of shell thinning and ocean uplift, followed by later modest nitrogen deposition. Without a subsurface ocean, a positive gravity anomaly requires an implausibly thick nitrogen layer (exceeding 40 kilometres). To prolong the lifetime of such a subsurface ocean to the present day and to maintain ocean uplift, a rigid, conductive water-ice shell is required. Because nitrogen deposition is latitude-dependent, nitrogen loading and reorientation may have exhibited complex feedbacks.

References

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