Dwarf planet Ceres: a new form of volcanism found

An international research team solves the mystery of how the mountain Ahuna Mons on Ceres was probably formed / Study in "Nature Geoscience" The scientists could hardly believe their eyes when they first saw this formation on the images acquired by their Framing Camera on board the Dawn space probe: a symmetrical mountain over 4000 metres tall and with steep, smooth sides rising over the crater-strewn surface of. It is the highest mountain on the 1000-kilometre-diameter, nearly spherical dwarf planet, and one of the most remarkable structures in the Solar System. Now, a study involving scientists from the University of Münster and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luftund Raumfahrt; DLR) has used gravity measurements and investigations of the geometrical shape of Ceres to solve the mystery of how Ahuna Mons - as the mountain is called - was probably formed. A bubble containing a mixture of brine, mud and rock rose from the dwarf planet's interior. The bubble pushed the ice-rich crust upwards, and at a structural weak point the muddy substance, comprising salts and hydreated silicates, was extruded onto the surface, solidified in the coldness of space - devoid of any atmosphere - and piled up to form a mountain. Ahuna Mons is an enormous mud volcano. "In this region, the interior of Ceres is not rigid and solid, but viscous and, at least in parts, liquid," explains Wladimir Neumann from the Institute of Planetology at Münster University and the DLR Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin-Adlershof.