NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has discovered deep, steep-sided canyons flooded with liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn's giant moon Titan.
A group of scientists, led by Valerio Poggiali of the University of Rome, analyzed radar images of Titan captured by Cassini three years ago as it closely passed the 5,000-km-wide moon. The spacecraft's radar observations indicated that the canyons draining into the large northern sea of Ligeia Mare have a very smooth surface, likely formed by a liquid.
The radar instrument also measured canyon depths, and found
that they range from 240-570 meters, with slopes that are at an angle
of at least 40 degrees, with maximum widths of around 0.8 kilometers,
making them very steep.
It is yet unclear what caused the channel system, but the
lead author of the study suggests that it could be a combination
of terrain uplift and sea level changes.
"It's likely that a combination
of these forces contributed to the formation of the deep canyons, but at
present it's not clear to what degree each was involved," Poggiali said
in a statement.
Many view Titan as a smaller, colder version of an early
Earth and believe that it could be a perfect place for life to develop.
The discovery adds to the similarities between the two. On Earth, an
example of uplift powering erosion is the Grand Canyon. In another
example, the formation of Lake Powell was driven by variations in the
water level.
"Earth is warm and rocky, with rivers
of water, while Titan is cold and icy, with rivers of methane. And yet
it's remarkable that we find such similar features on both worlds,"
study co-author Alex Hayes, a Cassini radar team associate at Cornell
University in Ithaca, New York, said in a statement.
For a more comprehensive understanding of the processes that have shaped
Titan's landscape, researchers are set to continue analyzing data
gathered by Cassini, following the spacecraft's almost two decades
of investigating Saturn and its peripheries.
http://sputniknews.com/world/20160812/1044186272/nasa-titan-canyons.html
