期刊
PLANETARY AND SPACE SCIENCE
卷 60, 期 1, 页码 10-17出版社
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.pss.2011.04.010
关键词
Titan; Satellite interiors; Serpentinization
资金
- STFC [PP/E006515/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Science and Technology Facilities Council [PP/E006515/1] Funding Source: researchfish
Titan's moment of inertia (Mol), estimated from the quadrupole gravity field measured by the Cassini spacecraft, is 0.342, which has been interpreted as evidence of a partially differentiated internal mass distribution. It is shown here that the observed Mol is equally consistent with a fully differentiated internal structure comprising a shell of water ice overlying a low-density silicate core: depending on the chemistry of Titan's subsurface ocean, the core radius is between 1980 and 2120 km, and its uncompressed density is 2570-2460 kg m(-3), suggestive of a hydrated CI carbonaceous chondrite mineralogy. Both the partially differentiated and fully differentiated hydrated core models constrain the deep interior to be several hundred degrees cooler than previously thought. I propose that Titan has a warm wet core below, or buffered at, the high-pressure dehydration temperature of its hydrous constituents, and that many of the gases evolved by thermochemical and radiogenic processes in the core (such as CH4 and Ar-40, respectively) diffuse into the icy mantle to form clathrate hydrates, which in turn may provide a comparatively impermeable barrier to further diffusion. Hence we should not necessarily expect to see a strong isotopic signature of serpentinization in Titan's atmosphere. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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