EGU2020-6899
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6899
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Carbon-rich composition of the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and asteroid 1-Ceres

Bruno Reynard1, Adrien Neri1,4, François Guyot2, and Christophe Sotin3
Bruno Reynard et al.
  • 1University of Lyon, ENS de Lyon, CNRS, Lyon, France (bruno.reynard@ens-lyon.fr)
  • 2Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Sorbonne Université, IMPMC, UMR CNRS 7590, IRD UMR206, Paris, France
  • 3Jet Propulsion Laboratory-California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
  • 4now at IRAP, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, CNES, UPS, (Toulouse), France

The inner structure of icy moons comprises ices, liquid water, a silicate rocky core and sometimes an inner metallic core depending on thermal evolution and differentiation. Mineralogy and density models for the silicate part of the icy satellites cores were assessed assuming a carbonaceous chondritic (CI) bulk composition and using a free-energy minimization code and experiments [1]. Densities of other components, solid and liquid sulfides, carbonaceous matter, were evaluated from available equations of state. Model densities for silicates are larger than assessed from magnesian terrestrial minerals, by 200 to 600 kg/m3 for the hydrated silicates, and 300 to 500 kg/m3 for the dry silicates, due to the lower iron bulk concentration in terrestrial silicates as a lot of iron is segregated in the core.

We find that CI density models of icy satellite cores taking into account only the silicate and metal/sulfide fraction cannot account for the observed densities and reduced moment of inertia of Titan and Ganymede without adding a lower density component. We propose that this low-density component is carbonaceous matter derived from insoluble organic matter, in proportion of ~30-40% in volume and 15-20% in mass. This proportion is compatible with contributions from CI and comets, making these primitive bodies including their carbonaceous matter component likely precursors of icy moons, and potentially of most of the objects formed behind the snow line of the solar system. Similar conclusions are reached for 1-Ceres when applying this compositional model, with even higher carbon content of the order of 25±5wt% in line with independent estimates [2]. It suggests that the building materials are similar for asteroid 1-Ceres and the icy moons of giant planets.

 

[1]Neri et al., Earth Planet Sci Letters, 530 (2020) 115920

[2]Zolotov, Icarus, 335 (2020) 113404

How to cite: Reynard, B., Neri, A., Guyot, F., and Sotin, C.: Carbon-rich composition of the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and asteroid 1-Ceres, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-6899, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-6899, 2020

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