Scientists decode mystery of Pluto's bladed terrain

Washington : Shedding light on mysterious formations resembling giant knife blades of ice on Pluto, scientists have found that the "bladed terrain" is made almost entirely of methane ice, and likely formed as a specific kind of erosion wore away the surfaces, leaving dramatic crests and sharp divides.

Among the many surprises that NASA's New Horizons mission discovered when it flew past that distant world in July 2015, the strange "bladed terrain" had remained a mystery.

These jagged geological ridges are found at the highest altitudes on Pluto's surface, near its equator, and can soar many hundreds of feet into the sky.

"When we realised that bladed terrain consists of tall deposits of methane ice, we asked ourselves why it forms all of these ridges, as opposed to just being big blobs of ice on the ground," said Moore.

"It turns out that Pluto undergoes climate variation and sometimes, when Pluto is a little warmer, the methane ice begins to basically 'evaporate' away," Moore said.