New Theory: Titan Shaped By Weather, Not Ice Volcanoes

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Feature: 2011-111 April 07, 2011

New Theory: Titan Shaped By Weather, Not Ice Volcanoes

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2011-111&cid=release_2011-111

Have the surface and belly of Saturn's smog-shrouded moon, Titan, recently simmered like
a chilly, bubbling cauldron with ice volcanoes, or has this distant moon gone cold? In a
newly published analysis, a pair of NASA scientists analyzing data collected by the
Cassini spacecraft suggest Titan may be much less geologically active than some
scientists have thought.

In the paper, published in the April 2011 edition of the journal Icarus, scientists conclude
Titan's interior may be cool and dormant and incapable of causing active ice volcanoes.

"It would be fantastic to find strong evidence that clearly shows Titan has an internal heat
source that causes ice volcanoes and lava flows to form," said Jeff Moore, lead author of
the paper and a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
"But we find that the evidence presented to date is unconvincing, and recent studies of
Titan's interior conducted by geophysicists and gravity experts also weaken the possibility
of volcanoes there."

Scientists agree that Titan shows evidence of having lakes of liquid methane and ethane,
and valleys carved by these exotic liquids, as well as impact craters. However, a debate
continues to brew about how to interpret the Cassini data on Titan. Some scientists
theorize ice volcanoes exist and suggest energy from an internal heat source may have
caused ice to rise and release methane vapors as it reached Titan's surface.

But in the new paper, the authors conclude that the only features on Titan's surface that
have been unambiguously identified were created by external forces -- such as objects
hitting the surface and creating craters; wind and rain pummeling its surface; and the
formation of rivers and lakes.

"Titan is a fascinating world," said Robert Pappalardo, a research scientist at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and former project scientist for NASA's Cassini
mission. "Its uniqueness comes from its atmosphere and organic lakes, but in this study,
we find no strong evidence for icy volcanism on Titan."

In December 2010, a group of Cassini scientists presented new topographic data on an
area of Titan called Sotra Facula, which they think makes the best case yet for a possible
volcanic mountain that once erupted ice on Titan. Although Moore and Pappalardo do not
explicitly consider this recent topographic analysis in their paper, they do not find the
recent analysis of Sotra Facula to be convincing so far. It remains to be seen whether
ongoing analyses of Sotra Facula can change minds.

Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is the only known moon to have a dense atmosphere,
composed primarily of nitrogen, with two to three percent methane. One goal of the Cassini
mission is to find an explanation for what, if anything, might be maintaining this
atmosphere.

Titan's dense atmosphere makes its surface very difficult to study with visible-light
cameras, but infrared instruments and radar signals can peer through the haze and
provide information about both the composition and shape of the surface.

"Titan is most akin to Jupiter's moon Callisto, if Callisto had weather," Moore added. "Every
feature we have seen on Titan can be explained by wind, rain and meteorite impacts,
rather than from internal heating."

Callisto is almost the exact same size as Titan. It has a cratered appearance, and because
of its cool interior, its surface features are not affected by internal forces. Moore and
Pappalardo conclude that Titan also might have a cool interior, with only external
processes like wind, rain and impacts shaping its surface.

The Cassini spacecraft, currently orbiting Saturn, continues to make fly-bys of Titan.
Scientists will continue to explore Titan's mysteries, including investigations of the
changes in the landscapes.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space
Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate,
Washington. The Cassini orbiter and several of its instruments were designed, developed
and assembled at JPL.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission,
visit http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .

Fore more information about possible ice volcanoes on Titan, visit
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-416 and
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2008-237 .

For more information about Alan Howard's Landform Evolution Computer Simulation
Modeling at the University of Virginia, visit http://erode.evsc.virginia.edu/marsfluv.htm .

Jia-Rui C. Cook 818-354-0850
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.?
jccook@jpl.nasa.gov

Rachel Hoover 650-604-0643
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Rachel.hoover@nasa.gov

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