| Title: |
Evidence of Titan’s climate history from evaporite distribution |
| Authors: |
Mackenzie, Shannon; Barnes, Jason; Sotin, Christophe; Soderblom, Jason; Le Mouélic, Stéphane; Rodriguez, Sebastien; Baines, Kevin; Buratti, Bonnie; Clark, Roger; Nicholson, Phillip; Mccord, Thomas |
| Contributors: |
Department of Physics Moscow,USA; University of Idaho Moscow; Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL); NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH); Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences MIT, Cambridge (EAPS); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique UMR 6112 (LPG); Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST); Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation (AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112)); Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Space Science and Engineering Center Madison (SSEC); University of Wisconsin-Madison; US Geological Survey Denver; United States Geological Survey Reston (USGS); Department of Astronomy Ithaca; Cornell University New York; This work was supported by NASA Cassini Data Analysts and Participating Scientists (CDAPS) Grant #NNX12AC28G to JWB. C.S. acknowledges support from the NASA Astrobiology Institute. Part of this work was conducted at JPL/Caltech under contract with NASA. |
| Source: |
ISSN: 0019-1035. |
| Publisher Information: |
CCSD; Elsevier |
| Publication Year: |
2014 |
| Subject Terms: |
Geological processes; Infrared observations; Spectroscopy; Titan surface; Titan; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics] |
| Description: |
International audience ; Water–ice-poor, 5-μm-bright material on Saturn’s moon Titan has previously been geomorphologically identified as evaporitic. Here we present a global distribution of the occurrences of the 5-μm-bright spectral unit, identified with Cassini’s Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) and examined with RADAR when possible. We explore the possibility that each of these occurrences are evaporite deposits. The 5-μm-bright material covers 1% of Titan’s surface and is not limited to the poles (the only regions with extensive, long-lived surface liquid). We find the greatest areal concentration to be in the equatorial basins Tui Regio and Hotei Regio. Our interpretations, based on the correlation between 5-μm-bright material and lakebeds, imply that there was enough liquid present at some time to create the observed 5-μm-bright material. We address the climate implications surrounding a lack of evaporitic material at the south polar basins: if the south pole basins were filled at some point in the past, then where is the evaporite? |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| Relation: |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/arxiv/1408.2899; ARXIV: 1408.2899 |
| DOI: |
10.1016/j.icarus.2014.08.022 |
| Availability: |
https://u-paris.hal.science/hal-03702504; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.08.022 |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.4D3717E8 |
| Database: |
BASE |