Computer Science
Scientific paper
Aug 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007epsc.conf..659m&link_type=abstract
European Planetary Science Congress 2007, Proceedings of a conference held 20-24 August, 2007 in Potsdam, Germany. Online at ht
Computer Science
Scientific paper
A thermal history model developed for medium-sized icy satellites containing silicate rock at low volume fractions is applied to Charon and five satellites of Uranus. The model assumes stagnant lid convection in homogeneously accreted bodies either confined to a spherical shell or encompassing the whole interior below the immobile surface layer. We employ a simple model for accretion assuming that infalling planetesimals deposit a fraction of their kinetic energy as heat at the instantaneous surface of the growing moon. Rheology parameters are chosen to match those of ice I, although the satellites under consideration likely contain admixtures of lighter constituents. Consequences thereof are discussed. Thermal evolution calculations considering radiogenic heating by long-lived isotopes suggest that Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon and Charon may have started to differentiate after a few hundred million years of evolution. Results for Miranda - the smallest satellite of Uranus - however, indicate that it never convected or differentiated. Miranda's interior temperature was found to be not even close to the melting temperatures of reasonable mixtures of water and ammonia. This finding is in contrast to its heavily modified surface and supports theories that propose alternative heating mechanisms such as early tidal heating. Except for Miranda, our results lend support to differentiated icy satellite models. We also point out parallels to previously published results obtained for several of Saturn's icy satellites (Multhaup and Spohn, 2007). The predicted early histories of Ariel, Umbriel and Charon are evocative of Dione's and Rhea's, while Miranda's resembles that of Mimas.
Multhaup Kai
Spohn Tilman
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