Evolution of Titan's labyrinths through chemical erosion and hillslope transport
Résumé
First seen in the T39 Cassini RADAR SAR data in 2007, the high latitude labyrinth terrain on Titan consists in complex valleys that range from polygonal to linear features with morphological similarities with terrestrial karst landforms [1]. Karstic landforms on Earth are the product of several geological processes, amongst which the chemical erosion (dissolution) of fractured limestones is the dominant one. On Titan, this analogy with karstic terrain is strengthened by theoretical calculation of the relatively high solubility of Titan's solid organics in liquid methane [2]. In this work, we test the hypothesis of labyrinths terrain being developed by dissolution-driven erosion. Simulated landscapes, computed using a Landscape Evolution Model (LEM) including the dissolution process, and converted into Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images, will be compared to the landforms visible in the Cassini RADAR SAR T39 images of the Sikun Labyrinthus area (Figure 1).
Domaines
Planète et Univers [physics]| Origine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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