Cryovolcanism
Volcanoes that erupt water and ammonia instead of molten rock.
On a world cold enough that ice behaves like rock, liquid water is the magma. Enceladus vents it in plumes hundreds of kilometres high through cracks at its south pole; Europa probably does something similar; Triton and Pluto both show terrain that has plainly been resurfaced. The plumes matter enormously to mission planning, because a spacecraft can fly through one and sample a subsurface ocean without landing — which is exactly what Cassini did, finding salts and organic molecules in the spray.
Related terms
Questions
What is Cryovolcanism?
Volcanoes that erupt water and ammonia instead of molten rock.
Why does it matter?
Enceladus vents it in plumes hundreds of kilometres high through cracks at its south pole; Europa probably does something similar; Triton and Pluto both show terrain that has plainly been resurfaced. The plumes matter enormously to mission planning, because a spacecraft can fly through one and sample a subsurface ocean without landing — which is exactly what Cassini did, finding salts and organic molecules in the spray.