Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008epsc.conf..778p&link_type=abstract
European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online a
Mathematics
Logic
Scientific paper
The Cassini dust detector CDA has recorded insitu thousands of mass spectra predominantly of submicron sized grains populating Saturn's E ring. In general the spectra exhibit a variety of different compositions, which can be classified into different dust-families. The compositional analysis of E ring particles is of special interest since the ice-volcanoes of the moon Enceladus are the major source replenishing the faint ring. They provide - otherwise inaccessible - information about dynamic and geochemical processes below the moon's icy surface. Here we report on the discovery of a sodium-rich water ice population in the E ring. Sodium chloride (NaCl) is identified as the major Na bearing compound. This finding has strong geological implications since NaCl is expected to be the major component dissolved if liquid water is interacting with the rocky moon-core (Zolotov, Icarus, 2007). The particles' composition inferred from the Na-rich spectra implies that the reservoir which feeds the plumes is or was in contact with Enceladus' rocky core. Besides the Na-rich E ring population, which amounts to about 5% of the detections, most of the other E ring spectra also exhibit traces of Na. They hint at a sodium content several orders of magnitude lower than the Na-rich ice species. This result implies that two populations, Na-rich and Na-poor, reflect different mechanisms of particle creation below Enceladus' surface. The Na content as well as the Na/K ratio identified in Na-rich ice particles is in very good agreement with the predictions for an Enceladus Ocean (Zolotov, Icarus, 2007). Our calculations show that the water vapour above such a liquid phase is depleted in sodium by a factor of about 10-6. The main E ring population likely is created by condensation of plume vapour within the vent channels of the ice crust (Schmidt et al, Nature, 2008). We suggest that the Na-poor particles condense from water vapour that evaporated from water with an ocean like salt concentration. The vapour contains traces of Na which is then found in the particles.
Briliantov N.
Buck U.
Kempf Sascha
Postberg Frank
Schmidt Jonas
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