Pluto’s peaks are ice volcanoes, scientists conclude

The peaks that tower over the surface of the dwarf planet Pluto have perplexed planetary scientists for years. It was speculated that it could be an ice volcano, but no cauldron-like caldera could be seen.

A full analysis of images and topographical data shows a merger of many ice volcanos, some up to 7,000 metres tall and 10-150 km across. There is a renewed debate about what could keep Pluto warm enough to support volcanic activity.

The first close-up images of the icy former planet and its moons were provided by the New Hampshire-based New Hampshire Telescope.

The area was so different and striking-looking that we were immediately interested in it.

There are giant broad mounds, and then there is a hummocky-like undulating texture superimposed on top, and even on top of that there is a smaller bouldery kind of texture.

There were no impact craters from asteroids or meteorites nearby, suggesting that these features had been erased by recent geological events.

Singer and her colleagues were cautious about calling them volcanoes.

The first images were beamed back in 2015. Although their appearance and behavior are very different to those found on Earth, the team has concluded that these unusual features are volcanoes.

If you look at Mount Fuji from a distance or one of the Hawaiian volcanoes, they look like big, broad, smooth features, which is not what we see there, said Singer, whose findings are published in Nature Communications.

The data suggests that the material is mostly water ice, but with some antifreeze mixed in.

She said that this material shouldn't be mobile because of the extremely low temperature. It is possible that the rocky core of Pluto is warmer than anticipated, and that the heat energy released from the radioactive decay of some of its elements is being trapped, triggering volcanic eruptions.

All of this is speculation, but we don't have a lot of information about what's going on in the subsurface of the dwarf planet.

The idea of a ball of ice being just a ball of ice is looking more and more unlikely.