EGU22-5912
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5912
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

The Soi crater region on Titan: Detailed geomorphological and compositional maps

Anezina Solomonidou1,2, Ashley Schoenfeld3, Rosaly Lopes4, Michael Malaska4, Athena Coustenis2, and Bernard Schmitt5
Anezina Solomonidou et al.
  • 1California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Los Angeles, United States of America (anezina.solomonidou@jpl.nasa.gov)
  • 2LESIA–Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, Univ. Paris-Diderot, Meudon, France.
  • 3Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
  • 4Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.
  • 5Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble, France.

The Soi crater region, an extensive region covering almost 10% of Titan’s surface, has the Soi crater in its middle, which is a relatively well-preserved crater on Titan.  This region includes the boundaries between the equatorial regions of Titan and the mid-latitudes, and extends into the high northern latitudes (above 50o). All these three Titan latitudes are dominated by different types of geomorphological units, such as dunes, mountains, and lakes, and are governed by different geological processes (such as lacustrine, aeolian and fluvial). An additional important and unique characteristic of the Soi crater region is that it includes 59 empty lakes, and the extent of these features reaches as far south as 40oN. We mapped this region at 1:800,000 scale and produced the first detailed geomorphological map of the region using the same methodology as presented by [1;2] and Schoenfeld et al. [3]. We included non-SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data such as radiometry, ISS, and VIMS data in order to analyze vast areas not observed by SAR. We performed detailed VIMS analysis of hundreds of distinct regions for all geomorphological units with a radiative transfer technique [4] and a mixing model [5], to infer constraints on the composition. In our results, we introduce new geomorphological units, which were not seen in previous mapping of large Titan regions such as the Afekan and South Belet, and report the extensive presence of the scalloped plains units and their possible origin. A total of 10 craters, including Soi, are identified in this region, which are older than the plains and dune units. The radiative transfer analysis from VIMS showed that the major constituents covering the Soi crater region are compatible with water ice and organic alkane, alkene and alkyl-like stretch materials. We discuss our results in terms of origin and evolution theories.

[1] Malaska, M., et al. (2016), Icarus 270, 130; [2] Malaska, M., et al. (2020), Icarus, 344, 113764. [3] Schoenfeld, A., et al. (2021), Icarus 366, 114516. [4] Solomonidou, A., et al. (2020a), Icarus, 344, 113338; [5] Solomonidou, A., et al. (2020b), A&A 641, A16.

 

 

 

How to cite: Solomonidou, A., Schoenfeld, A., Lopes, R., Malaska, M., Coustenis, A., and Schmitt, B.: The Soi crater region on Titan: Detailed geomorphological and compositional maps, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5912, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5912, 2022.

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