What do you think of when you think of volcanoes? Lava, ash, scorching temperatures? None of those things go well with ice—so how can an ice volcano exist?
Pluto’s ice volcanoes, called cryovolcanoes, erupt a strange mixture of water, ice, ammonia, and possibly methane or nitrogen. Although no molten rock flies through the air, this mixture, called cryolava, is the icy equivalent and can still cause significant changes to the landscape. It is relatively soft and slushy, flowing slowly and reshaping the terrain over time. We don’t know if any of these volcanoes are still active, but Wright Mons and Piccard Mons are two massive cryovolcanic structures that suggest volcanic activity occurred in the past.
These volcanoes are enormous, with some reaching 90 miles across. However, they are not very tall—only about 2 to 4 miles high. While they may not tower above the surface, the ice erupting from them hints at the presence of subsurface oceans and internal heat. The most exciting thing about cryovolcanoes and underground oceans is that they could create conditions suitable for microbial life. If life were discovered, it would mark the first evidence of extraterrestrial organisms.
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