Revision as of 20:48, 6 September 2016 by 69.161.116.59(talk)(→Observations: Removed comment on 'few things are known about cryovolcanoes'. We've been learning a lot more lately. (Also, bright spots may be cryovolcanoes on Ceres))
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One potential energy source on some solar system bodies for melting ices and producing cryovolcanoes is tidal friction. It has also been suggested[by whom?] that translucent deposits of frozen materials could create a subsurface greenhouse effect that would accumulate the required heat.
Signs of past warming of the Kuiper belt object Quaoar[4] have led scientists to speculate that it exhibited cryovolcanism in the past. Radioactive decay could provide the energy necessary for such activity, as cryovolcanoes can emit water mixed with ammonia, which would melt at 180 K (−95 °C) and create an extremely cold liquid that would flow out of the volcano.
Indirect evidence of cryovolcanic activity was later observed on several other icy moons of the Solar System, including Europa, Titan, Ganymede, and Miranda. Cassini has observed several features thought to be cryovolcanoes on Titan, notably Doom Mons with adjacent Sotra Patera, a feature regarded as "the very best evidence, by far, for volcanic topography anywhere documented on an icy satellite".[6] Cryovolcanism is one process hypothesized to be a significant source of the methane found in Titan's atmosphere.[7]
In 2007, observations by the Gemini Observatory showing patches of ammonia hydrates and water crystals on the surface of Pluto's moon Charon suggested the presence of active cryovolcanoes/cryogeysers.[8][9] Subsequent observations by New Horizons in 2015 found that Charon has a youthful surface, supporting this idea.[10] Pluto itself is also known to have two likely cryovolcanoes.[11]
In 2015, two distinct bright spots inside a crater of the dwarf planetCeres were imaged by the Dawn spacecraft, leading to speculation about a possible cryovolcanic origin.[12]
In September 2016, NASA JPL and NASA Goddard scientists released findings that large Ahuna Dome on Ceres is a "volcanic dome unlike any seen elsewhere in the solar system[. The large] mountain is likely volcanic in nature. Specifically, it would be a cryovolcano -- a volcano that erupts a liquid made of volatiles such as water, instead of silicates. ... the only known example of a cryovolcano that potentially formed from a salty mud mix, and that formed in the geologically recent past."[13] In addition, at least some of Ceres' well known bright spots (notably including the ones in Occator crater) are likely also cryovolcanic in origin [14].
