The interior structure of Ceres as revealed by surface topography

Normal Faults on Ceres: Insights Into the Mechanical Properties and Thermal History of Nar Sulcus

“…At this strain rate, we note that all but one of the f s = 0.3 and only one of the f s = 0.56 curves in Figure 3 fall below F = 100 mW/m 2 . We estimate an upper bound of~30 vol.% mechanically silicate-like phases within the mechanical layer at Nar Sulcus, which is broadly consistent with Fu et al's (2017) and Ermakov et al's (2017) estimate of the global rock volume fraction within the upper layer of Ceres. We estimate an upper bound of~30 vol.% mechanically silicate-like phases within the mechanical layer at Nar Sulcus, which is broadly consistent with Fu et al's (2017) and Ermakov et al's (2017) estimate of the global rock volume fraction within the upper layer of Ceres.…”

“…A silicate-dominated rheology at Nar Sulcus is deemed highly unlikely as it would require both an extremely thin elastic layer and an implausibly high heat flux. However, the remaining~70 vol.% of the mechanical layer in our model is composed of mechanically ice-like phases, which is considerably more than the upper bound of~25 vol.% ice estimated by Fu et al (2017). However, the remaining~70 vol.% of the mechanical layer in our model is composed of mechanically ice-like phases, which is considerably more than the upper bound of~25 vol.% ice estimated by Fu et al (2017).…”

“…Modeling the shape of elastically flexed topography allows for the estimation of the elastic thickness of the mechanical layer being faulted. Despite a plethora of evidence suggesting Ceres' upper layer is rich in water ice (e.g., Buczkowski et al, 2016;Combe et al, 2016Combe et al, , 2019Fu et al, 2017; Estimates of these parameters through the analysis of flexurally supported topography have previously been done on the Earth (e.g., Kusznir et al, 1991;Lowry & Smith, 1994;Weissel & Karner, 1989), Venus, (e.g., O'Rourke & Smrekar, 2018), Mars (e.g., Grott et al, 2005;Ruiz et al, 2006), Ganymede (Nimmo & Pappalardo, 2004;Nimmo et al, 2002), Europa (Nimmo & Schenk, 2006;Ruiz, 2005), Tethys (Giese et al, 2007), and Enceladus (Giese et al, 2008).…”

Conditions for the Long‐Term Preservation of a Deep Brine Reservoir in Ceres

“…These species are likely associated with other chlorides, like hydrohalite that cannot be detected by Dawn's instruments. The deep brine layer identified by Fu et al (2017) has been suggested as a reservoir for the Occator faculae (Quick et al, 2019). Both constructs display sodium carbonate , for the Occator faculae and Zambon et al, 2017, for Ahuna Mons).…”

“…Gravity data yielded a normalized mean moment of inertia of about 0.37 pointing to partial differentiation (Park et al, 2016). The crust overlays a mantle with a density of ∼2,400 kg/m 3 and a viscosity lower than 10 21 Pa s, which Fu et al (2017) interpreted as evidence for a small amount of pore fluid. The crust overlays a mantle with a density of ∼2,400 kg/m 3 and a viscosity lower than 10 21 Pa s, which Fu et al (2017) interpreted as evidence for a small amount of pore fluid.…”