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takyon writes:

A liquid ocean under the crust of Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, may have led to the formation of its cryovolcano, Ahuna Mons:

Ahuna Mons is a giant mountain with a[n] icy volcanic dome, a so-called cryovolcano. All volcanic activity for cryovolcanoes happens at low temperatures; they spew icy magma which can consist of freezing water, ammonia or methane instead of hot bubbling lava. The lack of craters on the volcano's surface meant it was probably formed quite recently – a couple of hundred million years at most. Ottaviano Ruesch, lead author of the paper and a NASA scientist working on the Dawn mission, said: "This is the only known example of a cryovolcano that potentially formed from a salty mud mix, and which formed in the geologically recent past."

The possibility of cryovolcanism on Ceres has important implications. Not only does this confirm the dwarf planet's surface temperature of minus 40°C, but it also suggests that its interior has kept warm enough for a sea of salty liquid water to exist below the planet's surface for a relatively long time. "Ceres appears differentiated internally, with a core and a complex crust made of 30 to 40 per cent water ice mixed with silicate rock and salts," said Williams.

The geomorphology of Ceres (DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf4332) (DX)

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