Chloe Beddingfield

Affiliation: NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) / The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute

Email:  chloe.b.beddingfield@nasa.gov / cbeddingfield@seti.org

Education

Ph.D. in Geology, University of Tennessee, 2015, Dissertation Title: Investigations into the Tectonics of Uranian and Saturnian Icy Satellites. https://trace.tennessee.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4931&context=utk_graddiss

B.S. in Geosciences / Minor in Chemistry, Texas Tech University, 2010

Research Interests

I investigate the geologic histories and subsurface properties of planetary bodies by studying craters, mass-wasting features, regolith, and tectonic structures. My current projects include investigating polygonal impact craters to better understand the orbital histories of icy bodies throughout the solar system and investigating lithospheric heat fluxes and the geology of Uranian moons.

Publications

2022:

Beddingfield, C.B. and Cartwright, R.J., 2022. Miranda’s Thick Regolith Indicates a Major Mantling Event from an Unknown Source. The Planetary Science Journal, 3(11), p.253. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac9a4e

Beddingfield, C.B., Leonard, E., Cartwright, R.J., Elder, C., Nordheim, T., 2022 High heat flux near Miranda’s Inverness Corona consistent with a geologically recent heating event. The Planetary Science Journal, 3(7), p.174. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac7be5

Beddingfield, C.B., Cartwright, R.J., Leonard, E.J., Nordheim, T., Scipioni, F., 2022 Ariel’s elastic thicknesses and heat fluxes. The Planetary Science Journal, 3(5), p.106. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac63d1

Cohen, I.J., Beddingfield, C., Chancia, R., DiBraccio, G., Hedman, M., MacKenzie, S., Mauk, B., Sayanagi, K.M., Soderlund, K.M., Turtle, E. and Ahrens, C., 2022. The Case for a New Frontiers–Class Uranus Orbiter: System Science at an Underexplored and Unique World with a Mid-scale Mission. The Planetary Science Journal, 3(3), p.58. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac5113

Quick, L.C., Fagents, S.A., Núñez, K.A., Wilk, K.A., Beyer, R.A., Beddingfield, C.B., Martin, E.S., Prockter, L.M. and Hurford, T.A., 2022. Cryolava Dome growth resulting from active eruptions on Jupiter’s moon Europa. Icarus, p.115185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2022.115185

Cartwright, R.J., Nordheim, T.A., DeColibus, D.R., Grundy, W.M., Holler, B.J., Beddingfield, C.B., Sori, M.M., Lucas, M.P., Elder, C.M., Regoli, L.H. and Cruikshank, D.P., 2022. A CO2 Cycle on Ariel? Radiolytic Production and Migration to Low-latitude Cold Traps. The Planetary Science Journal, 3(1), p.8. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac3d30

2021:

Beddingfield, C.B., Moersch, J.E., McSween, H.Y. 2021. The relationship between thermal inertia and degradation state of craters in areas of low surface dust cover on Mars. Icarus, 370, 114678. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114678

Beddingfield, C.B. and Cartwright, R.J., 2021. A lobate feature adjacent to a double ridge on Ariel: Formed by cryovolcanism or mass wasting?. Icarus, p.114583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114583

Cartwright, R.J., Beddingfield, C.B., Nordheim, T.A., Elder, C.M., Castillo-Rogez, J.C., Neveu, M., Bramson, A.M., Sori, M.M., Buratti, B.J., Pappalardo, R.T. and Roser, J.E., 2021. The science case for spacecraft exploration of the Uranian satellites: Candidate ocean worlds in an ice giant system. The Planetary Science Journal, 2(3), p.120. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/abfe12

Schenk, P.M., Beddingfield, C.B., Bertrand, T., Bierson, C., Beyer, R., Bray, V.J., Cruikshank, D., Grundy, W.M., Hansen, C., Hofgartner, J. and Martin, E., 2021. Triton: Topography and Geology of a Probable Ocean World with Comparison to Pluto and Charon. Remote Sensing, 13(17), p.3476. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13173476

Beyer, R.A., Robbins, S.J., Beddingfield, C., Bierson, C.J., Ennico, K., Lauer, T.R., McKinnon, W.B., Moore, J.M., Runyon, K., Olkin, C.B. and Schenk, P.M., 2021. Charon’s Far Side Geomorphology. The Planetary Science Journal, 2(4), p.141. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac09e9 

Leonard, E.J., Elder, C., Nordheim, T.A., Cartwright, R., Patthoff, D.A., Beddingfield, C., Cochrane, C., Brooks, S., Tiscareno, M., Strange, N. and Balint, T., 2021. UMaMI: A New Frontiers-style Mission Concept to Explore the Uranian System. The Planetary Science Journal, 2(5), p.174. https://doi.org/10.3847/PSJ/ac0e3b

Scipioni, F., White, O., Cook, J.C., Bertrand, T., Cruikshank, D.P., Grundy, W.M., Beddingfield-Cartwright, C., Binzel, R.P., Dalle Ore, C.M., Jennings, D. and Moore, J.M., 2021. Pluto’s Sputnik Planitia: Composition of geological units from infrared spectroscopy. Icarus, 359, p.114303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114303

2020:

Beddingfield, C., Li, C., Atreya, S., Beauchamp, P., Cohen, I., Fortney, J., Hammel, H., Hedman, M., Hofstadter, M., Rymer, A. and Schenk, P., 2020. Exploration of the Ice Giant Systems: A White Paper for NASA’s Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032. https://doi.org/10.3847/25c2cfeb.e2bee91e

Beddingfield, C.B., Beyer, R.A., Singer, K.N., McKinnon, W.B., Runyon, K., Grundy, W., Stern, S.A., Bray, V., Dhingra, R., Moore, J.M. and Ennico, K., 2020. Landslides on Charon. Icarus, 335, p.113383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2019.07.017

Beddingfield, C.B., and Cartwright, R.J., 2020. Hidden tectonism on Miranda’s Elsinore Corona revealed by polygonal impact craters. Icarus, 343, p.113687. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113687

Cartwright, R.J., Beddingfield, C.B., Nordheim, T.A., Roser, J., Grundy, W.M., Hand, K.P., Emery, J.P., Cruikshank, D.P. and Scipioni, F., 2020. Evidence for ammonia-bearing species on the Uranian satellite Ariel supports recent geologic activity. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 898(1), p.L22. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aba27f

Cartwright, R.J., Nordheim, T.A., Cruikshank, D.P., Hand, K.P., Roser, J.E., Grundy, W.M., Beddingfield, C.B. and Emery, J.P., 2020. Evidence for sulfur-bearing species on Callisto’s leading hemisphere: Sourced from Jupiter’s irregular satellites or Io?. The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 902(2), p.L38. https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/abbdae

Schenk, P., Singer, K., Beyer, R., Beddingfield, C., Robbins, S.J., McKinnon, W.B., Lauer, T.R., Verbiscer, A.J., Keane, J.T., Dhingra, R.D. and Moore, J., 2020. Origins of pits and troughs and degradation on a small primitive planetesimal in the Kuiper Belt: high-resolution topography of (486958) Arrokoth (aka 2014 MU69) from New Horizons. Icarus, p.113834. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113834

Cartwright, R.J., Emery, J.P., Grundy, W.M., Cruikshank, D.P., Beddingfield, C.B. and Pinilla-Alonso, N., 2020. Probing the regoliths of the classical Uranian satellites: Are their surfaces mantled by a layer of tiny H2O ice grains?. Icarus, 338, p.113513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2019.113513

Robbins, S.J., Schenk, P.M., Riggs, J.D., Parker, A.H., Bray, V.J., Beddingfield, C.B., Beyer, R.A., Verbiscer, A.J., Binzel, R. and Runyon, K.D., 2020. Depths of Pluto’s and Charon’s craters, and their simple-to-complex transition. Icarus, p.113902. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113902

Cruikshank, D.P., … Beddingfield, C.B., … et al., 2020. Cryovolcanic flooding in Viking Terra on Pluto. Icarus, p.113786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2020.113786

Spencer, J.R., … Beddingfield, C.B., … et al., 2020. The geology and geophysics of Kuiper Belt object (486958) Arrokoth. Science, 367(6481). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay3999

Jawin, E.R., … Beddingfield, C.B., … et al., 2020. Global patterns of recent mass movement on asteroid (101955) Bennu. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 125(9), p.e2020JE006475. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JE006475

2019 and earlier:

Stern, S.A., …C.B. Beddingfield… et al., 2019. Initial results from the New Horizons exploration of 2014 MU69, a small Kuiper Belt object. Science, 364(6441). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw9771

Walsh K.J., …C.B. Beddingfield … et al., 2019. Craters, boulders and regolith of (101955) Bennu indicative of an old and dynamic surface. Nature Geoscience. 12(4):242-6. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0326-6

Beyer, R.A., Spencer, J.R., McKinnon, W.B., Nimmo, F., Beddingfield, C., Grundy, W.M., Ennico, K., Keane, J.T., Moore, J.M., Olkin, C.B. and Robbins, S., 2019. The nature and origin of Charon’s smooth plains. Icarus, 323, pp.16-32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2018.12.036

Robbins, S.J., …C.B. Beddingfield… et al., 2019. Geologic landforms and chronostratigraphic history of Charon as revealed by a hemispheric geologic map. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 124(1), pp.155-174. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JE005684

Conrad, J.W., Nimmo, F., Schenk, P.M., McKinnon, W.B., Moore, J.M., Beddingfield, C.B., Beyer, R.A., Runyon, K.D., Young, L.A., Stern, S.A. and Weaver, H.A., 2019. An upper bound on Pluto’s heat flux from a lack of flexural response of its normal faults. Icarus, 328, pp.210-217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2019.03.028

Beddingfield, C.B., J.E. Moersch, H.Y. McSween Jr., 2018, Investigating crater rim thermal inertia variations on Mars: A case study in Tisia Valles, Icarus, 314, 345-363. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2018.06.011

Beddingfield, C.B., D.M. Burr, L.T. Tran, 2016, Polygonal impact craters on Dione: Evidence for tectonic structures outside the Wispy Terrain. Icarus, 274, 163-194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.03.020

Beddingfield, C.B., D.M. Burr, and W.M. Dunne, 2015, Shallow normal fault slopes on Saturnian icy satellites. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 120.12, 2053-2083. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JE004852

Beddingfield, C.B., D.M. Burr, and J.P. Emery, 2015, Fault geometries on Uranus’ satellite Miranda: Implications for internal structure and heat flow, Icarus, 247, 35-52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.09.048

NASA Missions

VIPER

OSIRIS-REx (Regolith Development Working Group)

New Horizons (Geology and Geophysics Imaging Team)­