earth science

Yamor Mons

Yamor Mons is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Yamor Mons rather than just read about it. In short: Yamor Mons, formerly Ysolo Mons, is a mountain on Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest asteroid. Located near the north pole of Ceres, it is a roughly triangular mountain standing roughly 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) above the surrounding cratered terrain.

Key takeaways

Yamor Mons belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Yamor Mons to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Yamor Mons from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Yamor Mons, formerly Ysolo Mons, is a mountain on Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest asteroid. Located near the north pole of Ceres, it is a roughly triangular mountain standing roughly 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) above the surrounding cratered terrain. Its shape has been battered by asteroid impacts, with some of its steep flanks carved out by nearby impact craters. It may be cryovolcanic in origin based on its similarities to another large Cerean mountain, Ahuna Mons. Other cryovolcanoes on Ceres are thought to have viscously relaxed and flattened out over time, but Yamor Mons escaped this fate due to its location in the colder north polar region.

Observation and naming On 5 March 2015, NASA's Dawn spacecraft arrived at the dwarf planet Ceres, observing and mapping its surface features in detail for the first time. Yamor Mons was first given the name Ysolo Mons on 21 September 2015 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Features on Ceres other than craters are named after agricultural festivals. Ysolo was reported as the name of an Albanian eggplant festival celebrating the first day of the eggplant harvest in Tirana by a blog post published on 26 November 2013 that was cited by the United States Geological Survey's Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature (GPN). No such festival appeared to exist, and the IAU's Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN) announced the approval of the name Yamor Mons to replace Ysolo Mons on 7 December 2016. The new name comes from the Ecuadorian Yamor festival, a maize festival held in September.

Geological characteristics Yamor Mons is located in Ceres's north polar region at 85.5°N, 12.00°E, near its north pole. It rises 9.5 kilometres (5.9 mi) above Ceres's mean ellipsoid, though its topographic prominence is 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) relative to surrounding terrain. Its base is triangular in shape, spanning 25 by 15 kilometres (15.5 mi × 9.3 mi). Its summit is marked by a 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) long ridge oriented northwest–southeast, with a relatively flat 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) wide slope to the west of this ridge. It has four main walls steeply inclined at 20–40° and oriented to roughly mark the northeast, east, south, and northwest flanks. All main flanks are concave upward. The northeastern wall's steepness is relatively consistent at 35–40°; it is Yamor's highest flank. The eastern wall has a slope of roughly 30°, decreasing slightly towards the summit. The southern wall is split into two distinct sections: an eastern section with a consistent 24° slope, and a western section with a concave downward slope. The northwestern wall is the least steep, with a maximum slope of around 20°. Yamor Mons's profile is affected by three impact craters. The smallest crater is about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) in diameter, carving out a portion of the mountain's western flank. A larger 18 kilometres (11 mi) crater grazes the mountain's southeastern flank, creating a minor arcuate wall as a part of its northwestern crater rim. The third crater, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) in size, is located to the north of the mountain. It appears to have excavated a large portion of the mountain, and its southern crater wall extends all the way to the summit rather than following a typical circular rim. The corresponding northeastern flank is the steepest of Yamor's flanks.

Possible cryovolcanism A 2018 study of Ceres's dome-shaped hills and mountain, led by planetary scientist Michael Sori, investigated whether any of the selected features—which included Yamor Mons—could be cryovolcanic domes. A large mountain, Ahuna Mons, had previously been identified as a likely cryovolcano that formed up to 240 million years (Myr) ago. However, its solitary nature was unusual, as other cryovolcanic domes should have been present if Ceres was active throughout its history. Sori's team hypothesized in 2017 that viscous relaxation may explain the lack of other cryovolcanic features, as over time they would flatten out and become less distinct. The team evaluated that Yamor Mons's characteristics are consistent with a cryovolcanic origin. Its aspect ratio (width/height ratio) is comparable to that of Ahuna Mons's, likely due to its location in the colder polar regions preventing its relaxation.

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Yamor Mons

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Yamor Mons claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Yamor Mons before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Yamor Mons ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Yamor Mons

In research: Yamor Mons appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Yamor Mons in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Yamor Mons is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Extraterrestrial mountains, Extraterrestrial volcanoes, Surface features of Ceres, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Yamor Mons outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Yamor Mons in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Yamor Mons means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Yamor Mons out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Yamor Mons in simple terms?

Why does Yamor Mons matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Yamor Mons?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Yamor Mons.