New research suggests that Titan's seasonal cycle could be responsible for forming features like sand dunes and plains.
Saturn’s moon Titan is one of the top destinations to search for life in our solar system, a tantalizing possibility that will be investigated by NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft which it launches to visit there in 2027. It is a strange place, with a thick atmosphere, rivers and lakes on its surface composed of liquid methane and ethane, then an icy crust, and a possible ocean of liquid water beneath.
This seasonal cycle affects how dunes are created as well, formed from hydrocarbons which create sand grains. But sands on Earth are formed from robust silicate grains, and sands on Titan are formed from soft compounds which usually wear down into fine dust. How these compounds could form into grains that make dunes that have lasted for hundreds of thousands of years was an open question.
The researchers found that the answer could be due to a process called sintering, in which a bunch of fine particles joins together into a solid mass due to heat or pressure. This lets the grains grow in size, and is balanced out by the wear and tear of erosion which makes the grains smaller.
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