Characterization of saline aqueous solutions upwelling under Ceres’
surface: a focus on chemical equilibria in the H2O-CO2-NaCl supply
ascent system
Abstract
In Ceres dwarf planet, a portion of a prior ocean at shallow depth may
still exist today as localized reservoirs. In this work, we constrained
chemical and geophysical properties of initial aqueous fluids,
characterizing the reservoirs, located under two selected craters:
Kupalo and Juling. At first, we applied FREZCHEM code to simulate
brines’ freezing processes, under different values of initial total
pressure in which the starting solutions have cooled to precipitate the
solids characterizing these craters. Then, we compared the results with
our chemical equilibria calculations to understand the equilibrium state
for each precipitated mineral, during the cooling process, related to
the activities of solutes and the ionic strength of solutions.
Decreasing temperature caused the precipitations of carbonates
(thermodynamically favored), followed by the formation of sulphates and,
later, of Cl-bearing salts from more saline brines. Solids precipitation
feeds cooling process, changing the velocity/density ratios of aqueous
solutions that would have arrived at surface erupting with a velocity of
⁓8·10-5 m/s. An excess of pressure in the reservoirs could have
supported an intrusion of briny materials to surface, and, in our
simulations, we suggest that sodium-salts formation is
pressure-dependent. This supports the hypothesis that different
“cooling chambers”, at different pressure conditions, may exist under
the craters. Moreover, beneath Kupalo, at specific pressure condition,
some kinetics-dependent molecules could form, suggesting that aqueous
solutions plausibly were affected by kinetics slower than the nearby
Juling.