Polar Wander on Triton and Pluto Due to Volatile Migration

Abstract Polar wander may occur on Triton and Pluto because of volatile migration. Triton, with its low obliquity, can theoretically sublimate volatiles (mostly nitrogen) at the rate of ∼10 13 kg year −1 from the equatorial regions and deposit them at the poles. Assuming Triton to be rigid on the sublimation timescale, after ∼10 5 years the polar caps would become large enough to cancel the rotational flattening, with a total mass equivalent to a global layer ∼120–250 m in depth. At this point the pole wanders about the tidal bulge axis, which is the line joining Triton and Neptune. Rotation about the bulge axis might be expected to disturb the leading side/trailing side cratering statistics. Because no such disturbance is observed, it may be that Triton’s surface volatile inventory is too low to permit wander. On the other hand, its mantle viscosity might be low, so that any uncompensated cap load might be expected to wander toward the tidal bulge axis. In this case, the axis of wander passes through the equator from the leading side to the trailing side; rotation about this wander axis would not disturb the cratering statistics. Low-viscosity polar wander may explain the bright southern hemisphere: this is the pole which is wandering toward the sub-Neptune point. In any case the “permanent” polar caps may be geologically very young. Polar wander may possibly take place on Pluto, due to its obliquity oscillations and perihelion-pole geometry. However, Pluto is probably not experiencing any wander at present. The Sun has been shining strongly on the poles over the last half of the obliquity cycle, so that volatiles should migrate to the equator, stabilizing the planet against wander. Spacecraft missions to Triton and Pluto which measure the dynamical flattening could give information about the accumulation of volatiles at the poles. Such information is best obtained by measuring gravity and topography from orbiters, as was done for Mars with the highly successful Mars Global Surveyor.

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