New Models Suggest Titan Lakes Are Explosion Craters (phys.org) 19
Using radar data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, recently published research presents a new scenario to explain why some methane-filled lakes on Saturn's moon Titan are surrounded by steep rims that reach hundreds of feet high. The models suggests that explosions of warming nitrogen created basins in the moon's crust. Phys.Org reports: Titan is the only planetary body in our solar system other than Earth known to have stable liquid on its surface. But instead of water raining down from clouds and filling lakes and seas as on Earth, on Titan it's methane and ethane -- hydrocarbons that we think of as gases but that behave as liquids in Titan's frigid climate. Most existing models that lay out the origin of Titan's lakes show liquid methane dissolving the moon's bedrock of ice and solid organic compounds, carving reservoirs that fill with the liquid. This may be the origin of a type of lake on Titan that has sharp boundaries. On Earth, bodies of water that formed similarly, by dissolving surrounding limestone, are known as karstic lakes.
The new, alternative models for some of the smaller lakes (tens of miles across) turns that theory upside down: It proposes pockets of liquid nitrogen in Titan's crust warmed, turning into explosive gas that blew out craters, which then filled with liquid methane. The new theory explains why some of the smaller lakes near Titan's north pole, like Winnipeg Lacus, appear in radar imaging to have very steep rims that tower above sea level -- rims difficult to explain with the karstic model. The work, published Sept. 9 in Nature Geosciences, meshes with other Titan climate models showing the moon may be warm compared to how it was in earlier Titan "ice ages."
The new, alternative models for some of the smaller lakes (tens of miles across) turns that theory upside down: It proposes pockets of liquid nitrogen in Titan's crust warmed, turning into explosive gas that blew out craters, which then filled with liquid methane. The new theory explains why some of the smaller lakes near Titan's north pole, like Winnipeg Lacus, appear in radar imaging to have very steep rims that tower above sea level -- rims difficult to explain with the karstic model. The work, published Sept. 9 in Nature Geosciences, meshes with other Titan climate models showing the moon may be warm compared to how it was in earlier Titan "ice ages."
rimshot (Score:1)
we think of as gases? (Score:2)
Just like they are liquid at the temperature and pressure on Titan.
What kind of weird wording is that?
Either way, could the rims be explained by something like meteorite strikes?
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If someone mentions methane in a conversation, we imagine cow farts. Now, farts are traditionally gasses, unless they come from frozen cows, in which case they may be poops, which are really just solid farts. You're welcome for this in-depth scientific explanation.
I think you'll find a frozen fart becomes a shart if it's at the triple point.
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If someone mentions methane in a conversation, we imagine cow farts. Now, farts are traditionally gasses, unless they come from frozen cows, in which case they may be poops, which are really just solid farts.
So are you insinuating that life on Titan might have come from flatulence . . . ?
If it works, Elon Musk should send a truck load of refried beans to Mars.
Then we can terraform Mars with flatulence!
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Maybe I'm missing the point here- but are we saying that the craters came from explosive diarrhea?
Could there be life in these lakes? (Score:2)
Astronomers and exo biologists get excited about under surface seas on other moons , but is there enough energy for complex enough chemical reactions for some sort of life to occur in these methane lakes?
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So are these models also astronomers and exo biologists, or are NASA now using models to present exciting new data?
I'm imagining a catwalk and the emcee announcing "and here comes Jeff, wearing NASA's new space casual summer line." Jeff pauses at the end of the runway, tosses his hair back and says to the camera "Titan's lakes are explosive!"
Luna city 7 (Score:2)
But there ain't no place, in all of space
Like that good ol' toddlin' town
Oh luna city 7, you're my idea of heaven
Out of ten you score eleven
Nitrogen explosion? (Score:3)
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Why would melting nitrogen explode?
Well, maybe there is also melting frozen ammonia on Titan, and the melting could have formed nitrogen triiodide [wikipedia.org]
The stuff is a hoot and a half when sprinkled around university dormitories.
A whole moon with the stuff would be in would be priceless.
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Oops . . . I forgot . . . Titan needs iodine as well.
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I'd guess it's more like a volcano. Undersurface gas buildup under intense pressure blowing divots out of Titan's crust.
Re:Nitrogen explosion? (Score:5, Informative)
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Heat from meteoric impacts raising the pressure?
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The Trump Titan golf course was trying to update its layout and move the holes around.
Replace your divots, people. Especially when they're 10 km wide.
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This would be similar to the methane clathrate explosions we see in Siberia, except at much lower gravity. It's believed that the clathrates, which have a lower phase change temperature than the permafrost, melt, the methane gets trapped under the permafrost, and the methane accumulates. When there is enough pressure it blasts through the permafrost, creating a similar (though much smaller) hole to what we see on Titan.