Leviathan Patera

Leviathan Patera is a big, special kind of volcano on Triton, which is the largest moon of the planet Neptune. This type of volcano is called a cryovolcano, meaning it may erupt very cold, icy materials instead of hot, melted rock.

Leviathan Patera was found in 1989 by the Voyager 2 spacecraft. It is located in an area called Monad Regio, in the western part of a flat region named Cipango Planum. This volcano is very large, about 80 kilometers or 50 miles wide, making it one of the biggest of its kind in our whole Solar System. Scientists find it very interesting because it tells us more about the hidden, icy volcanoes that can exist far from Earth.

Discovery and naming

Leviathan Patera was first seen by the Voyager 2 spacecraft when it flew by the Neptune system on August 25, 1989. It is named after the biblical Hebrew sea serpent, the Leviathan. The name was approved by the International Astronomical Union in 1991.

Geology

Leviathan Patera is a large, steep-sided depression that looks a lot like the collapse calderas found on Earth. Its floor is deep and mostly flat in the north, but in the south, there is a broad dome nearly level with the land around it. The northwest part of Leviathan Patera has a very high point, one of the tallest in the area.

Leviathan Patera is thought to be the main vent of a huge plateau made from icy volcanic material called Cipango Planum. Eruptions of icy lava, known as cryolava, from Leviathan Patera helped build up much of Cipango Planum and the smooth land around it. If Cipango Planum is part of Leviathan Patera's icy volcanic structure, then Leviathan Patera is the largest known icy volcano on Triton and one of the largest volcanic features in the Solar System. Its eruptions may have happened in several stages, starting with flows of less thick icy lava, then moving to explosive eruptions, and finally creating domes inside the caldera with thicker material.