Saturn’s moon, called Titan, is considered one of the most mysterious and attractive celestial bodies in our solar system, as it is the only moon other than Earth that has a thick atmosphere and a surface that contains lakes and rivers composed of hydrocarbons such as methane and ethane.
And in New study By planetary scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the United States of America, researchers revealed a thick ice layer of “methane clathrate” at a depth of up to 10 kilometers covering the crust of the moon Titan. This crust acts as a thermal insulator that maintains the moon’s warmth and contributes to explaining the presence of the methane-rich atmosphere.
Secrets of the methane-rich crust
According to the study, this strange crust rich in methane contains ice crystals that trap the gas within its structure and contribute to isolating the heat present in the interior of the moon, which leads to softening and warming the icy crust.
Lauren Schurmayer, a researcher involved in the study and a professor at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Science, said in exclusive statements to Al Jazeera Net, “Methane, as a greenhouse gas, contributes to heating the surface of Titan in a manner similar to that of Earth, as it traps heat in the atmosphere,” which enhances the process of convection in the crust.
Convection in the crust is a process similar to what happens when you heat a bowl of water. When the water is heated from below, the warmer and lighter masses of water rise to the top, while the colder and heavier molecules descend to the bottom, creating continuous circular currents that appear in the fluctuation of the water surface that We see it during boiling.
The computer models that the researchers relied on showed that the thickness of Titan’s crust is large, ranging between 5 and 10 kilometers, and that this warm crust allows the mountains and craters on Titan’s surface to collapse over time.
The effect of heat from this crust appears to cause surface craters to become shallower, similar to the rapid melting of glaciers on Earth.
How was the clathrate layer formed?
Gwendolyn Brewer, a doctoral candidate at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Science and participating in the study, indicated that Titan’s crust may be the result of several factors. She says, “The methane rain that falls on Titan’s surface may be responsible for the clathrate layer, and instead of, or perhaps in addition to, the methane rain may “Clathrates formed early in Titan’s deep history and floated across the ocean to the base of the ice crust, where large-scale geological processes such as convection could move them upward.”
This interpretation opens the door to the possibility that these processes may contribute to writing the history of Titan, contributing to the development of a new understanding of the evolution of this moon.
Climate change on Titan over time may be similar to Earth’s, as a methane-rich atmosphere could contribute to raising the temperature on the moon’s surface.
With increasing focus on Titan as a natural laboratory for understanding the mechanisms of global warming, Brewer points out that the lessons learned could provide important insights into the geological and climate processes occurring on Earth.
For her part, Schurmayer says, “If Titan has an insulating crust of clathrate, the underlying water-ice crust will move by convection despite the relatively low heat flow from the core.”
She points out that “the convective interior may lead to the formation of diverse terrain, and may allow ice volcanoes to be active under certain conditions,” which could explain the presence of plateaus and mountain ranges as one of the puzzling and unexplained geological phenomena on the surface of the moon.
Eyes on “Dragonfly”
NASA is scheduled to launch the Dragonfly mission to Titan in July 2028, and the vehicle is expected to reach the moon in 2034.
The mission includes a set of advanced instruments, including seismometers, which will be used to measure seismic activity, according to Schurmeier, who says, “With high-quality seismic data, the Dragonfly mission can help confirm the thickness and presence of the clathrate crust.”
Schurmayer expects that Dragonfly will provide high-resolution images of Silk Crater, which was studied in the current study.
She added that these images will help evaluate the extent of the crater’s erosion and shallowness, and test whether it contains materials such as sand, which supports models that explain the processes that lead to the shallowing of craters over time.
Current discoveries indicate that clathrates may play an important role in protecting the subterranean oceans from complete freezing, as they provide thermal insulation that allows fluids to flow under the crust, and this opens new horizons for the possibility of life existing in those oceans.
“Clathrates not only contribute to providing an environment that may be habitable,” Brewer explained, “but their effect on convection in the ice crust could transport organic materials from the ocean to the surface, which future missions could discover.”
Although Titan differs from other icy moons such as Europa and Enceladus in its internal composition, the new discoveries may contribute to a deeper understanding of how ice crusts form and evolve.
By studying the similarities and differences between these moons, scientists can provide new hypotheses regarding the possibility of life in other planetary systems, which opens new horizons for scientific exploration in the future.
The research team from the University of Hawaii continues to work on developing models that simulate the formation of craters on the surface of Titan in cooperation with researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, and the Planetary Science Institute.
“We have received additional funding from NASA to continue this work,” Schurmayer concludes. “We are working with a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, and the Planetary Science Institute, who are modeling the process of the impact of crater formation in clathrate crusts on Titan, led by Dr. Shigeru Wakita, and then Gwendolyn and I are modeling the evolution.” “We hope to understand how craters of all sizes in clathrate crusts change over time, as this will help us better determine the thickness of clathrates and the age of Titan’s surface.”
ظهرت في الأصل على www.aljazeera.net