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2015 GSA Annual Meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, USA (1-4 November 2015)

Paper No. 308-4
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM

INITIAL GEOLOGIC MAPPING OF THE AC-H-4 EZINU QUADRANGLE OF CERES USING DAWN SPACECRAFT DATA


SCULLY, Jennifer E.C.1, RAYMOND, Carol A.1, WILLIAMS, David A.2, BUCZKOWSKI, Debra L.3, MEST, Scott C.4, HUGHSON, Kynan H.G.5, RUSSELL, Christopher T.6, KNEISSL, Thomas7, RUESCH, Ottaviano8 and FRIGERI, Alessandro9, (1)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, (2)School of Earth & Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Box 871404, Tempe, AZ 85287, (3)Space Departrment, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Rd, Laurel, MD 20723, (4)Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, (5)Dept. of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, 595 Charles E Young Drive E, Los Angeles, CA 90095, (6)Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, (7)Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, 12249, Germany, (8)NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771, (9)INAF, Instituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Rome, 00133, Italy, jennifer.e.scully@jpl.nasa.gov

The Dawn Science Team divided the surface of Ceres into fifteen quadrangles, in order to facilitate systematic geological mapping. A geological map of Ezinu quadrangle is presented here, along with initial interpretations of the quadrangle’s geological history. Ezinu quadrangle is located from 21-66°N and 180-270°E and includes the following dominant features: (1) Ezinu crater (120 km diameter), (2) the northern portion of Occator crater (92 km diameter), and (3) northwest-striking crater chains and grooves. Ezinu crater contains a cluster of small craters, sinuous grooves and mass wasting deposits in its interior and is associated with dark mantling material. This dark mantling material corresponds to the northern part of the #8 dark albedo region observed by Li et al. (2006) with the HST. The northern portion of Occator crater is associated with dark mantling material, which we interpret as Occator ejecta. This dark mantling material corresponds to part of the #10 dark albedo region observed by Li et al. (2006). The southern part of Ezinu quadrangle is cross-cut by northwest-striking crater chains and grooves. It is possible that the crater chains and grooves were formed by material ejected during the formation of the Yalode and/or Urvara impact craters in the southern hemisphere. Furthermore, Ezinu quadrangle is located in one of two possible water vapor source regions detected around Ceres (Küppers et al., 2014). Ongoing work will include the identification of possible water vapor source regions within the quadrangle and the development of a detailed geological history. Currently, our geological mapping is based on Approach (~1.3 km/pixel) and Survey (~400 m/pixel) mosaics of clear and color filter data from the Dawn spacecraft’s Framing Camera. In addition, shape models derived from Framing Camera data are used as a mapping aid. Dawn will begin the High Altitude Mapping Orbit (HAMO) in mid-August, and our geological mapping will incorporate the higher resolution HAMO mosaics (~140 m/pixel). Support by J-P. Combe, P.M. Schenk, R. Jaumann, T. Roatsch, F. Preusker, T. Platz, A. Nathues, M. Hoffmann, M. Schaefer, R. Park, S. Marchi, M.C. De Sanctis and the Dawn Instrument, Operations, and Science Teams is gratefully acknowledged. Küppers, M. et al. (2014) Nature, 505, 525-527. Li, J-Y. et al. (2006) Icarus, 182, 143-160.

Session No. 308--Booth# 341

T172. Geology of Dwarf Planets: First Results from NASA's Dawn Mission to Ceres (Posters)
Wednesday, 4 November 2015: 9:00 AM-6:30 PM
Exhibit Hall (Baltimore Convention Center)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 47, No. 7, p.781
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