The Sahara Desert as an Analogue to Sand Seas on Titan

Details The Sahara Desert as an Analogue to Sand Seas on Titan The Sahara Desert as an Analogue to Sand Seas on Titan

Dec 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p13b1374r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P13B-1374

Other

[3307] Atmospheric Processes / Boundary Layer Processes, [5470] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Surface Materials And Properties, [6281] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Titan, [6969] Radio Science / Remote Sensing

Scientific paper

The prevalence of tens of thousands of sand dunes on Titan, nearly all of which are linear in form and of similar size and spacing to those in Earth’s large deserts, leads to useful comparisons across sand seas on both bodies. Outcomes of these analyses include the importance of process over materials. Earth’s quartz or gypsum and Titan’s organic sands all produce the same resultant form, highlighting the process of saltation in similar atmospheric conditions, likely even in similar boundary layer conditions (Lorenz et al. 2010). Another result of combined analyses is the recognition that linear dune forms are affected by topographic obstacles, which disrupt sand-carrying winds and provide indicators of wind directions. Over time, sands may collect upwind of an obstacle, where winds decrease in strength and saltation is diminished. Evidence of this can be seen in the eastern Sahara Desert of Earth and on Titan, providing indication of the long-term, time-averaged wind direction. Recent winds, which may deviate from time-averaged winds, produce sand streaks behind the obstacles and crests and ripples. Large sand streaks can be seen on Titan at Cassini instrument resolutions, but not crests or ripples. Many Saharan dunes have sand-free interdunes, indicating sand is sparse because sediment bypassing is occurring in the region. This is true for the Fensal sand sea of Titan’s equatorial leading hemisphere. Analysis of sand transport patterns in the eastern Sahara will provide information about sand transport, as well as sand sources and sinks, in Fensal. The age of Titan’s dunes, though among the youngest features on Titan from superposition relationships, is not decisively known. Though limited by resolution, the apparent absence of compound or complex dune forms across Titan indicates the dune systems may be mature, and that the current atmospheric/climatic conditions have persisted for long time periods. Titan, with its lack of oceans, vegetation, and extensive, circulation-blocking mountain ranges may have allowed its sand deposits to evolve to equilibrium forms consistent in morphology and orientation over large expanses. Careful consideration of the conditions on Titan responsible for producing broadly consistent, perhaps evolved dune forms will lead to new conclusions about the formation of linear dunes, landforms not well understood on Earth.

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