Landslides cause a lot of chaos on Earth, as rocks and other debris come crashing down due to gravity. But Earth isn’t the only place where landslides occur — these massive ground movements happen on Mars and Mercury, moons, asteroids, and even the iconic dwarf planet at the edge of our Solar System, Pluto.
A new study published in Icarus has pointed out the first evidence of landslides on Pluto, where signs of mass movements have been etched into crater walls and steep cliffs. The six detected landslides could have been triggered by a number of factors, from tectonic activity to meteoroid impacts, although the true cause remains a mystery. Regardless, these landslides on Pluto show how the dwarf planet’s surface can be transformed in dynamic ways.
“The landslides we identified on Pluto travelled relatively long distances, suggesting that the displaced material moved very efficiently. Studying this behaviour may provide clues about the properties of Pluto’s surface and subsurface materials, including the possible influence of ice and volatile substances,” study author Marco Emanuele Discenza, a researcher at Geoservizi s.r.l. told Discover.
Observing Activity on Pluto
Scientists discovered landslides on Pluto after re-examining high-resolution images taken by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. New Horizons, originally launched in 2006, was the first spacecraft to get a close look at Pluto, flying by the dwarf planet in 2015.
According to the new study, landslides have been observed on most solid bodies within the Solar System. In contrast, studies on the surfaces of bodies in the Kuiper Belt — the doughnut-shaped region of icy objects beyond the orbit of Neptune — are limited, although landslides have previously been observed on Pluto’s largest moon, Charon.
The New Horizons mission, however, revealed a treasure trove of previously unknown features on Pluto, including hundreds of dunes and glaciers made of frozen nitrogen, according to NASA. These observations provided proof that Pluto is an active world undergoing geologic processes.
Read More: It Took Pluto Nearly 250 Years to Finally Orbit the Sun — Here's Why
Pluto's Massive Landslides
Now, just over a decade after New Horizons approached Pluto, images from the mission have revealed evidence of landslides on the dwarf planet. Researchers involved in the new study primarily found evidence on steep slopes, crater walls, and tectonic scarps, which are cliffs formed by faulting.
The researchers examined images acquired by the spacecraft’s Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager, identifying signs of six landslides along the inner rims of three impact craters: one within the Coughlin crater, two within the Giclas crater, and the remaining three within an unnamed crater.
The researchers also mapped the elevation profiles of the landslides; they found that the landslides dropped from around 1 mile to 1.3 miles, and traveled as far as 9 miles. The surface area of the landslides ranged from around 12 square miles to 50 square miles.
The researchers don’t know exactly what caused the landslides, but several factors may have been at play, including tectonics, erosion, cryovolcanism, and various thermal processes.
They note that meteoroid impacts may trigger landslides on Pluto by disturbing pre-existing slopes or shaking the ground. Heating from an impact could potentially lead to melting or sublimation of surface layers, making it easier for material to slide.
Understanding Landslides on Icy Bodies
Although the cause of the landslides was unknown, the researchers were able to determine that they were highly mobile. According to the study, this could indicate that Pluto may possess effective mass transport mechanisms.
Landslides on Mars and the dwarf planet Ceres (between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter) have been shown to exhibit both high and low mobility, suggesting they may exhibit greater variability than those on Pluto. The researchers write that this variability may result from subsurface ice layers and different ice-cemented surfaces on the two bodies.
A 2021 study published in Science Advances proposed a theory linking Mars’ landslides to ice beneath the planet’s surface. Unique flow features on Mars called Recurring Slope Lineae, the study’s authors suggest, may be created when near-surface ice melts, allowing surface material to be shifted by dust and wind.
While we still don't know precisely how landslides on Pluto work, their presence on the dwarf planet could help scientists better understand surface processes on icy bodies at the edges of our Solar System. Knowing how landslides work across the Solar System could also benefit future space exploration missions.
“Landslides can represent a potential hazard for future exploration missions, particularly in areas with steep slopes or signs of past instability. Studying where they occur and how large they can become can help identify potentially critical areas and support safer decisions when selecting landing sites or planning surface operations,” said Discenza.
This article was updated on July 15, 2026, by the Discover staff to correct two minor factual errors.
Read More: Our Solar System May Have a New Dwarf Planet Orbiting Even Farther Than Pluto
Article Sources
Our writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:
- This article references information from a study published in Icarus: First geomorphological evidence of landslides on Pluto
- This article references information from NASA: Five Years after New Horizons’ Historic Flyby, Here Are 10 Cool Things We Learned About Pluto
- This article references information from Science Advances: Martian subsurface cryosalt expansion and collapse as trigger for landslides
