Journal
ICARUS
Volume 226, Issue 2, Pages 1431-1437Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2013.07.026
Keywords
Satellites, surfaces; Saturn, satellites; Titan; Titan, hydrology; Titan, surface; Prebiotic environments
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Funding
- Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers THETA Franche-Comt-Bourgogne, France
- NASA CDAPS Program [NNX12AC28G]
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Titan, the main satellite of Saturn, has an active cycle of methane in its troposphere. Among other evidence for a mechanism of evaporation at work on the ground, dry lakebeds have been discovered. Recent Cassini infrared observations of these empty lakes have revealed a surface composition poor in water ice compared to that of the surrounding terrains-suggesting the existence of organic evaporites deposits. The chemical composition of these possible evaporites is unknown. In this paper, we study evaporite composition using a model that treats both organic solids dissolution and solvent evaporation. Our results suggest the possibility of large abundances of butane and acetylene in the lake evaporites. However, due to uncertainties of the employed theory, these determinations have to be confirmed by laboratory experiments. (C) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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