scholarly journals Detection of ammonia on Pluto’s surface in a region of geologically recent tectonism

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. eaav5731 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Dalle Ore ◽  
D. P. Cruikshank ◽  
S. Protopapa ◽  
F. Scipioni ◽  
W. B. McKinnon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Freezing Point ◽  
Charged Particles ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Absorption Bands ◽  
Geological Process ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Extensional Tectonic ◽  
Ultraviolet Photons ◽  
Recent Deposition

We report the detection of ammonia (NH3) on Pluto’s surface in spectral images obtained with the New Horizons spacecraft that show absorption bands at 1.65 and 2.2 μm. The ammonia signature is spatially coincident with a region of past extensional tectonic activity (Virgil Fossae) where the presence of H2O ice is prominent. Ammonia in liquid water profoundly depresses the freezing point of the mixture. Ammoniated ices are believed to be geologically short lived when irradiated with ultraviolet photons or charged particles. Thus, the presence of NH3 on a planetary surface is indicative of a relatively recent deposition or possibly through exposure by some geological process. In the present case, the areal distribution is more suggestive of cryovolcanic emplacement, however, adding to the evidence for ongoing geological activity on Pluto and the possible presence of liquid water at depth today.

scholarly journals Physicochemical Parameters Limiting Growth of Debaryomyces hansenii in Solutions of Hygroscopic Compounds and Their Effects on the Habitability of Martian Brines

Life ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1194
Author(s):  
Jacob Heinz ◽  
Vita Rambags ◽  
Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Freezing Point ◽  
Debaryomyces Hansenii ◽  
Solute Concentration ◽  
Stress Factors ◽  
Additional Stress ◽  
Dry Valleys ◽  
Halotolerant Yeast ◽  
Rich Media ◽  
Colony Forming Units

The availability of liquid water is a prerequisite for all lifeforms on Earth. In hyperarid subzero environments like the Dry Valleys in Antarctica or the near-subsurface of Mars liquid water might be provided temporarily by hygroscopic substances that absorb water from the atmosphere and lower the freezing point of water. To evaluate the potential of hygroscopic compounds to serve as a habitat, it is necessary to explore the microbial tolerances towards these substances and their life-limiting properties. Here we present a study investigating the tolerances of the halotolerant yeast Debaryomyces hansenii to various solutes. Growth experiments were conducted via counting colony forming units (CFUs) after inoculation of a liquid growth medium containing a specific solute concentration. The lowest water activities (aw) enabling growth were determined to be ~0.83 in glycerol and fructose-rich media. For all other solutes the growth-enabling aw was higher, due to additional stress factors such as chaotropicity and ionic strength. Additionally, we found that the solute tolerances of D. hansenii correlate with both the eutectic freezing point depressions and the deliquescence relative humidities of the respective solutes. Our findings strongly impact our understanding of the habitability of solute-rich low aw environments on Earth and beyond.

Effect of Cations on Absorption Bands of First Electronic Transition of Liquid Water

2010 ◽  
Vol 114 (32) ◽  
pp. 8319-8322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akifumi Ikehata ◽  
Motoki Mitsuoka ◽  
Yusuke Morisawa ◽  
Naomi Kariyama ◽  
Noboru Higashi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Electronic Transition ◽  
Absorption Bands

scholarly journals GEOLOGICAL MAPPING OF PLUTO AND CHARON USING NEW HORIZONS DATA

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B4 ◽  
pp. 449-451
Author(s):  
J. M. Moore ◽  
J. R. Spencer ◽  
W. B. McKinnon ◽  
A. D. Howard ◽  
O. M. White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Geological Mapping ◽  
The Other ◽  
Internal Heating ◽  
Systematic Mapping ◽  
Radiogenic Heat ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Extensional Tectonic ◽  
Volatile Transport

Pluto and Charon exhibit strikingly different surface appearances, despite their similar densities and presumed bulk compositions. Systematic mapping has revealed that much of Pluto’s surface can be attributed to surface-atmosphere interactions and the mobilization of volatile ices by insolation. Many mapped valley systems appear to be the consequence of glaciation involving nitrogen ice. Other geological activity requires or required internal heating. The convection and advection of volatile ices in Sputnik Planum can be powered by present-day radiogenic heat loss. On the other hand, the prominent mountains at the western margin of Sputnik Planum, and the strange, multi-km-high mound features to the south, probably composed of H2O, are young geologically as inferred by light cratering and superposition relationships. Their origin, and what drove their formation so late in Solar System history, is under investigation. The dynamic remolding of landscapes by volatile transport seen on Pluto is not unambiguously evident in the mapping of Charon. Charon does, however, display a large resurfaced plain and globally engirdling extensional tectonic network attesting to its early endogenic vigor.

scholarly journals Gibbs free energy of liquid water derived from infrared measurements

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (45) ◽  
pp. 24830-24840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Bergonzi ◽  
Lionel Mercury ◽  
Jean-Blaise Brubach ◽  
Pascale Roy
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Gibbs Free Energy ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Absorption Bands ◽  
Thermal Range ◽  
Infrared Measurements ◽  
Ir Bands

A completely new set of IR bands of liquid water from 4 cm−1 to 4000 cm−1 is studied from spectroscopic and thermodynamic viewpoints over a large thermal range, evidencing the so-called isosbestic points on the different absorption bands.

Syn- and post-extensional tectonic activity in the Palaeoproterozoic sequences of Broken Hill and Mount Isa and its bearing on reconstructions of Rodinia

2008 ◽  
Vol 166 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 350-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.M. Gibson ◽  
M.J. Rubenach ◽  
N.L. Neumann ◽  
P.N. Southgate ◽  
L.J. Hutton
Keyword(s):  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Mount Isa ◽  
Broken Hill ◽  
Extensional Tectonic

The Effects of Ambient Pressure on the Initiation of the Freezing Process for a Water Droplet on a Cold Surface

2016 ◽  
Vol 138 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheyan Jin ◽  
Yingpei Zhao ◽  
Dongyu Sui ◽  
Zhigang Yang
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Water ◽  
Water Droplet ◽  
Freezing Point ◽  
Ambient Pressure ◽  
Air Pressure ◽  
Bulk Liquid ◽  
Freezing Process ◽  
Common Belief ◽  
Cold Surface ◽  
Wide Range

This study investigated the effect of air pressure on the freezing process of a water droplet on a cold surface. A common belief is that bulk liquid water is incompressible and air pressure does not affect the freezing point of the bulk liquid water over a wide range of pressure. However, our results demonstrated that, for a water droplet on a cold surface, its freezing process started early at lower ambient pressures. Such a phenomenon can be explained by the effects of the evaporative cooling.

Extensional tectonic activity in the cratonward parts (peripheral bulge) of the Ganga Plain foreland basin, India

2002 ◽  
Vol 91 (5) ◽  
pp. 897-905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agarwal K. ◽  
Singh I. ◽  
Sharma M. ◽  
Sharma S. ◽  
Rajagopalan G.
Keyword(s):  
Foreland Basin ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Ganga Plain ◽  
Extensional Tectonic

Hydrogen bonding in water and ice

1968 ◽  
Vol 46 (22) ◽  
pp. 3579-3586 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. A. Ford ◽  
Michael Falk
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Bonding ◽  
Liquid Water ◽  
Intermolecular Potential ◽  
Absorption Bands ◽  
Different Temperatures ◽  
Stretching Vibrations

The absorption bands due to the OH and OD stretching vibrations of HDO in ice were measured between 0 and −182° and compared with the corresponding bands in liquid water. Their frequencies were correlated with the intermolecular potential energies of H2O and D2O. The distributions of the intermolecular energies in ice and in water at different temperatures were derived from the profiles of the bands.

scholarly journals GEOLOGICAL MAPPING OF PLUTO AND CHARON USING NEW HORIZONS DATA

2016 ◽  
Vol XLI-B4 ◽  
pp. 449-451
Author(s):  
J. M. Moore ◽  
J. R. Spencer ◽  
W. B. McKinnon ◽  
A. D. Howard ◽  
O. M. White ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solar System ◽  
Geological Mapping ◽  
The Other ◽  
Internal Heating ◽  
Systematic Mapping ◽  
Radiogenic Heat ◽  
Western Margin ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
Extensional Tectonic ◽  
Volatile Transport

Pluto and Charon exhibit strikingly different surface appearances, despite their similar densities and presumed bulk compositions. Systematic mapping has revealed that much of Pluto’s surface can be attributed to surface-atmosphere interactions and the mobilization of volatile ices by insolation. Many mapped valley systems appear to be the consequence of glaciation involving nitrogen ice. Other geological activity requires or required internal heating. The convection and advection of volatile ices in Sputnik Planum can be powered by present-day radiogenic heat loss. On the other hand, the prominent mountains at the western margin of Sputnik Planum, and the strange, multi-km-high mound features to the south, probably composed of H2O, are young geologically as inferred by light cratering and superposition relationships. Their origin, and what drove their formation so late in Solar System history, is under investigation. The dynamic remolding of landscapes by volatile transport seen on Pluto is not unambiguously evident in the mapping of Charon. Charon does, however, display a large resurfaced plain and globally engirdling extensional tectonic network attesting to its early endogenic vigor.

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