3/20/2023 0 Comments Fluctus drop rate![]() ![]() ) include the likely existence of a liquid layer in Titan's interior, with some models placing it at 50–100 km depth. Favorable conditions for cryovolcanism on Titan (summarized by Lopes et al. have argued that the brightness variations reported by Nelson et al. The possibility that cryovolcanism, or at least outgassing, is still active on Titan has been proposed by Nelson et al. Putative cryovolcanic features on Titan have been discussed using both RADAR data and VIMS data. Cassini has revealed active plumes at Enceladus emitted from fractures near the south pole that are warmer than their surroundings, showing that Enceladus is presently active, although no features have been detected that indicate cryomagmas have come to the surface. Features on Europa and Ganymede may also have been formed by cryovolcanic activity. Early evidence for cryovolcanism was provided by Voyager 2 images of cratered rifts and smooth floors of filled depressions on Neptune's moon Triton, likely solidified water or methane ice melts. We consider the eruption of water-melts from the interiors of icy satellites onto their surfaces as examples of volcanism, analogous to the familiar terrestrial process despite the lack of direct terrestrial material analogs on Earth. ![]() Volcanism that occurs on the outer solar system's satellites, sometimes known as cryovolcanism, is primarily the eruption of aqueous or nonpolar molecular solutions or partly crystallized slurries derived from partial melting of ice-bearing materials. as an eruption from an opening on a planetary surface from which magma, defined for that body as a partial melt product of mantle or crustal material, is erupted. Planetary volcanism has been defined by Lopes et al. In particular, new topographic information obtained from radargrammetry and SARTopo are used to reassess interpretations of volcanic features. These new data have motivated the reexamination of possible volcanic features on Titan using data from the Cassini RADAR and Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instruments. Alternate, exogenic interpretations for some putative volcanic features have been suggested, particularly as new data have shown that Ganesa Macula, observed in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data and interpreted as a volcanic dome, does not have the topographic characteristics of a pristine dome. Among the varied surface features observed by Cassini instruments are vast dune fields, lakes, fluvial channels, mountains, and features that have been interpreted as volcanic. In terms of active or recent surface-shaping processes, Titan is one of the most earthlike worlds in the solar system, often being referred to as the Earth of the outer solar system. Data from the Cassini mission have revealed that Titan is a complex world in which interior, surface, and atmospheric processes interact to create and modify geologic features. Our analysis shows the great value of combining data sets when interpreting Titan's geology and in particular stresses the value of RADAR stereogrammetry when combined with SAR imaging and VIMS. We discuss implications for eruption style and composition of cryovolcanism on Titan. Cryovolcanism is still a possible formation mechanism for several features, including the flow-like units in Hotei Regio. However, we find that some other previously supposed cryovolcanic features were likely formed by other processes. We interpret this region to be a cryovolcanic complex of multiple cones, craters, and flows. We present evidence to support the cryovolcanic origin of features in the region formerly known as Sotra Facula, which includes the deepest pit so far found on Titan (now known as Sotra Patera), flow-like features (Mohini Fluctus), and some of the highest mountains on Titan (Doom and Erebor Montes). Here we use observations from the Cassini RADAR, including Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging, radiometry, and topographic data as well as compositional data from the Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) to reexamine several putative cryovolcanic features on Titan in terms of likely processes of origin (fluvial, cryovolcanic, or other). ![]() The existence of cryovolcanic features on Titan has been the subject of some controversy. ![]()
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