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Investigating the nature of Brine Pockets on Ceres using hyperspectral mapping

Dias, L. (2022) Investigating the nature of Brine Pockets on Ceres using hyperspectral mapping.

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Abstract:Dwarf planet Ceres’ most striking feature are bright spots called ‘faculae’ on its surface formed by the deposition of minerals from briny fluids. This study aimed to investigate the nature of brine pockets from which the fluids originate using datasets collected by the Dawn spacecraft’s VIR instrument without the use of predefined spectral endmembers. A preprocessing process was developed to assess the data quality. Artifacts like negative pixels, spectral spikes, and vertical stripes were seen in the datasets due to sensor defects. The spectral analysis was carried out using summary products and wavelength mapping that highlighted regions of interest from which spectra were extracted and compared with spectra from the RELAB spectral database and spectra from previous studies. Two prominent wavelengths at which absorption features were seen were 2.7 μm and ~3 μm due to NH4 salts and anhydrous carbonates. Absorption features matched the spectrum for carbonates at ~2.7 μm and of natrite at ~3.9 μm. No new minerals were identified, and the absorption features of the spectra of the regions identified showed similar absorption features of two different carbonates. This led to an inconclusive result of the specific minerals present in the faculae but a definite indication of mineral groups like carbonate and ammonium.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:ITC: Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation
Subject:38 earth sciences, 39 astronomy
Programme:Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation MSc (75014)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/92360
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