Evidence of Titan’s climate history from evaporite distribution

• Published in: Icarus
• Main Authors: Mackenzie, Shannon, Barnes, Jason, Sotin, Christophe, Soderblom, Jason, Le Mouélic, Stéphane, Rodriguez, Sebastien, Baines, Kevin, Buratti, Bonnie, Clark, Roger, Nicholson, Phillip, Mccord, Thomas
• Other Authors: Department of Physics Moscow,USA, University of Idaho Moscow, USA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), University of Arizona, Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique UMR 6112 (LPG), Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation (AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112)), Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 (UPD7)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Planetary Science Institute Tucson (PSI), Cornell University New York, Bear Fight Institute
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2014
• Subjects: [PHYS.ASTR.EP]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]/Earth and Planetary Astrophysics [astro-ph.EP]; South Pole; South pole
• Online Access: https://hal-univ-paris.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03657812; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2014.08.022

International audience Water-ice-poor, 5-lm-bright material on Saturn's moon Titan has previously been geomorphologically identified as evaporitic. Here we present a global distribution of the occurrences of the 5-lm-bright spectral unit, identified with Cassini's Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) and examined with RADAR when possible. We explore the possibility that each of these occurrences are evaporite deposits. The 5-lm-bright material covers 1% of Titan's surface and is not limited to the poles (the only regions with extensive, long-lived surface liquid). We find the greatest areal concentration to be in the equatorial basins Tui Regio and Hotei Regio. Our interpretations, based on the correlation between 5-lm-bright material and lakebeds, imply that there was enough liquid present at some time to create the observed 5-lm-bright material. We address the climate implications surrounding a lack of evaporitic material at the south polar basins: if the south pole basins were filled at some point in the past, then where is the evaporite?