Photolytical Generation of Carbon Dioxide

Details Photolytical Generation of Carbon Dioxide Photolytical Generation of Carbon Dioxide

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p11b1273p&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P11B-1273

Physics

5422 Ices, 6060 Radiation And Chemistry, 6280 Saturnian Satellites

Scientific paper

Carbon dioxide has been found by Cassini VIMS throughout the Saturnian system in locations such as Iapetus' equator where the temperature is too high for it to remain as free ice for more than a few hundred years. We suggest that the 4.26 micron absorption feature found on Iapetus and Hyperion (that has been attributed to complexed CO2) is the result of either UV photolysis or ion bombardment driving chemistry between the carbon rich layer and the water ice regolith. We conducted experiments to simulate the generation of CO2 by UV radiation under conditions similar to those on the surface of Iapetus. A simulated icy regolith was created in an argon atmosphere using flash-frozen, degassed water crushed into sub-millimeter sized particles. Isotopically labeled amorphous carbon (13C), which was ground into a fine dust, was mixed into the regolith allowing for extensive grain contact. This sample was placed in a vacuum chamber and cooled to temperatures as low at 60K. The sample was irradiated with UV light, and the products were measured using both a mass spectrometer to identify free molecules and an IR spectrometer for molecules that remained trapped on and in the simulated regolith. We report on the production and reaction rates of CO2 and CO, as well as the generation of free hydrogen and oxygen as detected by a SRS-100 mass spectrometer. We also identify residual products that either freeze on the surface or become entrained by or adsorbed onto the ice grains. We attempt to match the CO2 absorption feature found on Iapetus with that seen in our simulation, perhaps identifying a possible source of CO2 in the Saturnian system. Finally, we estimate the time required for these reactions to occur on Iapetus to see if UV photolysis would be effective.

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