Ices in the Solar-System: A Volatile-Driven Journey from the Inner Solar System to its Far Reaches

Ices in the Solar-System: A Volatile-Driven Journey from the Inner Solar System to its Far Reaches details the evolution of ice on planetary bodies within the Solar System, including terrestrial planets and the Moon, Ceres and other dwarf planets or volatile asteroids, icy Galilean and Saturnian satellites, Triton and disparate Uranian moons, and Pluto, other Kuyper belt objects and comets. The book provides a view of different ice types throughout the Solar System, i.e., H2O, CO2, CH4, etc., that characterize icy processes on disparate bodies. Ice and icy processes at micro through macro scales are discussed.

The book geographically spans the major planetary bodies of the Solar System, covering surface and subsurface geologies, geophysics and geochemistry of ices to answer questions such as the nature and extent of water ice and different frozen volatile species, how do ices give us clues to interiors and oceans, and more.

• • Draws a pan solar-system view of various ice species • Identifies and addresses outstanding and sometimes puzzling questions about these ices • Describes the dynamic relationships between these ices and the geological history of the planets, moons, and smaller bodies where they occur • Studies these relationships using multiple analytical-scales and techniques

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Nov 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9780323993258

Book preview

Introduction

Ices in the Solar System: A Volatile-Driven Journey from the Inner Solar System to its Far Reaches investigates the origins, development, and distribution of various ice species throughout the solar system. The book also identifies and constrains fundamental science questions about these ices and filters these questions through the lens of human exploration, especially as it concerns the pursuit of H2O ice (Garvin, 2024, pp. xxvii–xxx; Garvin et al., 2024, pp. 193–220).

Spatially, Ices in the Solar System: A Volatile-Driven Journey from the Inner Solar System to its Far migrates outwardly from Mercury, the Earth and the Moon, Mars, then Ceres and other icy, volatile-bearing small bodies in the inner solar system; this perambulation continues outwardly from the sun by exploring some of the icy moons of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, as well as the Pluto/Charon system and other Trans-Neptunian/Kuiper Belt Objects.

Conceptually, the book describes the often-enigmatic geological histories of ice species such as H2O, CO2, and CH4 located throughout the solar system on a diverse set of planets, moons, and small bodies of lesser mass (e.g., Raymond, 2024, pp. xix–xxv). This is underlined, for example, by chronicling and evaluating the interaction of these ice species with a wide range of surface, near-subsurface, interior, and atmospheric processes (e.g., Ahrens et al., 2024, pp. 357–376; Farnsworth et al., 2024, pp. 315–356; Howell et al., 2024, pp. 283–314).

Each chapter addresses a broad and engaging sweep of questions. For example, why is there H2O ice on Mercury and the Moon, where absent atmospheres and hostile surface/near-surface thermal environments seemingly are inconsistent with stable water ice (Williams & Rubanenko, 2024, pp. 1–30)? Is the origin of the water ice on these bodies primordial, or might it be rooted in the dynamic evolution and displacement of ices in the solar system that postdates the formation of these bodies (Williams & Rubanenko, 2024, pp. 1–30)?

Why and by what means does Mars currently host the concurrent presence of H2O and CO2? And, no less importantly, does the waxing and waning of glaciation on Mars resemble glacial cycles on Earth (Gallagher, 2024, pp. 31–72; Grau Galofre et al., 2024, pp. 73–100; Koutnik et al., 2024, pp. 101–142)? What are the principal landforms and landscape features thought to be the result of Martian glaciation? What is their consonance or dissonance with glacial landscapes and landforms on Earth (Gallagher, 2024, pp. 31–72; Grau Galofre et al., 2024, pp. 73–100; Koutnik et al., 2024, pp. 101–142)? Is periglaciation, i.e., the freeze-thaw cycling of water at or near the Martian surface, and associated landforms such as clastically sorted and non-sorted patterned ground, thermokarst-like depressions, and perennial ice-cored mounds or pingos, as ubiquitous on Mars as on Earth (Soare et al., 2024, pp. 143–192)?

What enables dwarf planets such as Ceres and Pluto to host possible cryovolcanism and ice-associated endogenic processes thought to be energetically inconsistent with the relatively small mass and old age of these bodies (Ahrens et al., 2024, pp. 357–376; Landis et al., 2024, pp. 221–260)?

Comets, some asteroids, and even some dwarf planets such as Ceres within the inner solar system are icy (El-Maarry, 2024, pp. 261–282; Landis et al., 2024, pp. 221–260). Wherefrom are they? Did they originate at or proximal to their present-day orbital distance from the sun, or does their genesis lie further afield in the Trans-Neptunian region of the solar system, if not beyond? Moreover, does the recently identified iciness of many of these bodies blur one of the most commonplace distinctions between them, i.e., rocky vs icy? If so, then to what extent should these bodies be, or not be, categorized as co-members of an icy continuum (El-Maarry, 2024, pp. 261–282)?

What of the moons in the outer solar system?

In the Jovian system, Europa’s icy surface and its plate tectonics, Ganymede’s dichotomous terrain and icy shell, and Callisto’s densely cratered icy blanket of dark material comprise a geologically unique set of moons, each of which possibly hosts a subsurface ocean that could be a safe haven for simple life (Howell et al., 2024, pp. 283–314).

Ice is omni-present in the Saturnian system of moons as well. Water ice occurs on the surface of Titan, Enceladus, Iapetus, Hyperion, Dione, Rhea, Tethys, and Mimas; carbon dioxide, methane, and cyanide ice along with methane clathrates have also been identified or are hypothesized to exist on the surface or within the interior of a few of these icy moons. Titan, in particular, exhibits a plethora of ice compositions due to the complex chemistry arising from its surface-atmosphere interaction. As ocean worlds, both Titan and Enceladus are considered high-priority targets for astrobiology (Farnsworth et al., 2024, pp. 315–356).

The moons of Uranus and Neptune as well as the Pluto-Charon system contain, in addition to water, CO2, CO, N2, NH3, and CH4 ices. On Pluto’s surface, volatile species such as nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide are mobilized seasonally, and many ice bodies in the outer reaches of the solar system display a diversity of surface processes and modifications. Both Pluto and Triton possess features that have been interpreted as cryovolcanic in origin and may harbor subsurface oceans, joining the growing list of hypothesized ocean worlds (Ahrens et al., 2024, pp. 357–376).

It is clear from this holistic review of ices throughout the solar system that volatiles have played an integral role in the thermal, atmospheric, and geological evolution of the planets, moons, and other objects in the solar system.

Richard J. Soare

Department of Geography, Dawson College, Montreal, QC, Canada

Jean-Pierre Williams

Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States

Frances E.G. Butcher

Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

Mohamed Ramy El-Maarry

Space and Planetary Science Center and Department of Earth Sciences, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

References

Ahrens C.J., Lisse C.M., Williams J.-P., Soare R.J. Geocryology of Pluto and the icy moons of Uranus and Neptune. In: Soare R.J., Williams J.-P., Ahrens C., Butcher F.E.G., El-Maarry M.R., eds. Ices in the solar system, a volatile-driven journey from the inner solar system to its far reaches. Elsevier Books; 2024.

El-Maarry M.R. Small icy bodies in the inner Solar System. In: Soare R.J., Williams J.-P., Ahrens C., Butcher F.E.G., El-Maarry M.R., eds. Ices in the solar system, a volatile-driven journey from the inner solar system to its far reaches. Elsevier Books; 2024.

Farnsworth K.K., Dhingra R.D., Ahrens C.J., Nathan E.M., Magaña L.O. Titan, Enceladus, and other icy moons of Saturn. In: Soare R.J., Williams J.-P., Ahrens C., Butcher F.E.G., El-Maarry M.R., eds. Ices in the solar system, a volatile-driven journey from the inner solar system to its far reaches. Elsevier Books;