Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p32c..02b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P32C-02
Other
[1825] Hydrology / Geomorphology: Fluvial, [5419] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Hydrology And Fluvial Processes, [6281] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Titan
Scientific paper
Fluvial features on Titan have been inferred in data from surface imaging instruments on the Cassini spacecraft (Image Science Subsystem, ISS; Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer, VIMS; Cassini Titan RADAR Mapper, RADAR) and the Huygens probe (Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer, DISR). Interpretations of these features using terrestrial classifications and analogs offer insight into their formative processes and controls. Networks may be classified using a modified version of an algorithm developed from terrestrial drainage networks. As each network class carries different landscape-scale implications, these classifications provide information on the regional geology. For example, rectangular networks, the dominant drainage pattern on Titan, imply structural control. Individual fluvial features provide more localized information and may be classified using simple plan view parameters of relative width, length, and RADAR albedo into six descriptive classes, which have multiple hypothesized interpretations. At the highest resolution observations of Titan, DISR images show uplands dissected by river valley networks, which are not visible in lower resolution SAR data. This comparison of DISR and SAR images suggests (1) that some fluvial features observed in SAR data elsewhere may be river valleys instead of channels as previously denoted, and (2) that other uplands on Titan may likewise be fluvially dissected below SAR resolution. Crenulated (mountainous, hummocky) terrain is hypothesized here to have such sub-resolution fluvial dissection, based on (a) emergent fluvial features at lakes and (b) terrestrial data over dissected landscapes that illustrate the underrepresentation of fluvial dissection in SAR data. Fluvial deposits occur in (paleo)lake basins and on SAR-dark plains. For fully turbulent flow over a rough boundary, hydraulic equations are insensitive to fluid viscosity, so that terrestrial formulations are applicable to Titan flow when the difference in material properties (i.e., gravity, fluid density and viscosity, sediment densities) is accounted for. However, for low Reynolds number flow over a smooth boundary, knowledge of fluid kinematic viscosity is necessary for quantitative predictions of flow rates. Sediment movement and bedform development are also influenced by material properties. The reduced sediment density and fluid viscosity for Titan largely balance each other out, so that the predominant effect is the lower gravity, which results in movement and bedforms occurring at lower bed shear stress on Titan than on Earth. However, scaling bedrock erosion is hampered by uncertainties regarding Titan material properties.
Adamkovics Mate
Baker Victor R.
Black Benjamin A.
Burr Devon M.
Collins Geoffrey C.
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