Implications From Ithaca Chasma for the Thermal and Orbital History of Tethys

Details Implications From Ithaca Chasma for the Thermal and Orbital History of Tethys Implications From Ithaca Chasma for the Thermal and Orbital History of Tethys

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p31c..07c&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P31C-07

Mathematics

Logic

5418 Heat Flow, 5455 Origin And Evolution, 6280 Saturnian Satellites

Scientific paper

Flexural modeling of Ithaca Chasma on Tethys suggests that the elastic thickness and the surface heat flux were 5-7~km and 18-30~mW/m2 respectively when the feature formed (~4 Ga B.P.) [1]. A global extrapolation of this heat flux suggests that as Ithaca Chasma formed, Tethys was emitting between 60 to 100~GW of power. While tidal dissipation has been included in thermal models of other icy satellites (e.g. Europa, Enceladus), tidal heating has not been hitherto considered relevant to Tethys. Because Tethys' eccentricity is near-zero at present, we present paleo-eccentricities required for Tethys to have been tidally heated to the extent suggested by Ithaca Chasma. The eccentricities range from 0.001 to 0.02, depending on the interior structure of Tethys. A liquid water ocean may have existed on Tethys, although our models do not require this to match the geological observations. The orbital circularization timescales are short compared to the inferred interval between Solar System formation and Ithaca Chasma formation. Therefore, rather than the elevated eccentricity being primordial, it is likely that Tethys and Dione were involved in a paleo-resonance and subsequently evolved to their current configuration. However, the equilibrium tidal heating value for a Tethys-Dione resonance is substantially less than that observed at Ithaca Chasma, similar to the present-day situation at Enceladus [2]. [1] Giese et. al, Icarus, 2007 [2] Meyer and Wisdom, Icarus, 2007

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