Photo: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/STÉPHANE LE MOUÉLEC, UNIVERSITY OF NANTES, VIRGINIA PASEK, UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA / copyright
A group of astronomers has proposed a new theory that seeks to explain why the largest moon of the planet Saturn, called Titan, has a visually similar surface to that of Earth, according to the study that publishes the journal Advancing Earth and Space Science (AGU).
Like Earth, Titan is home to lakes, rivers, canyons, eroded plateaus, and sand dunes. However, the materials that make up these geological formations are completely different: liquid methane flows through their rivers, instead of water, while their dunes, instead of sand, are composed of soft hydrocarbons.
However, until now no one had been able to explain how it is possible that the dunes of Titan, formed by organic compounds, can support such varied structures and avoid being turned into fine dust after the sedimentation produced by the nitrogen wind and the passage of liquid methane.
The hypothesis of the scientists
Researchers concluded that there were at least three factors similar to those on Earth on Saturn’s large moon. In the first place, it was proposed that the so-called ooids are also produced on Titan, small sedimentary grains that are normally found in tropical waters, which despite the erosion of the sea maintain a constant size.
Second, scientists estimated that winds were more common around Titan’s equator, allowing dunes to develop. In other places on the lunar surface, the winds could have caused the formation of coarser grains or more solid sedimentary rock.
“Our hypothesis is that sintering – which consists of the grains fusing together in one piece – could counteract abrasion when the winds transport the grains”, explained the director of the research, Mathieu Lapôtre, from Stanford University.
A seasonal cycle similar to Earth
Titan, apart from Earth, is known as the only celestial body with a seasonal liquid transport cycle, so experts suggest that liquid methane also contributes to erosion and sediment formation.
“We are showing that on Titan -just like on Earth and what happened on Mars- there is an active sedimentary cycle that can explain the latitudinal distribution of landscapes through epis abrasion odic and sintering driven by the stations of Titan”, added Lapôtre.
“It is quite fascinating to think about how this alternative world exists so far away, where things are so different and at the same time so similar”, he concluded.
Edited by José Ignacio Urrejola