Saturn's weird moon Titan looks a bit like Earth, and scientists might finally know why
Image Credit:mashablleindia
The moon of Saturn's surface Titan resembles Earth in appearance, and a new research reveals why.
Image Credit:maohoube
The largest moon of Saturn Titan's sceneries are reminiscent of Earth's: lakes and rivers, labyrinthine valleys, and soft sand dunes
Image Credit:theatlantic
These geological structures on Titan, on the other hand, are formed of completely different materials
Liquid methane, rather than water, runs through rivers, and hydrocarbons, rather than sand, blow into dunes.
Given their un-Earth-like composition, scientists have been baffled for years as to how these landscapes came to be. However, they've come up with a really credible theory now.
Because Titan's sediments are theorized to be made from solid organic compounds, they should be far more fragile than the silicate-based sediments found on Earth
Thus nitrogen wind and liquid methane should wear Titan's sediments down to fine dust, which wouldn't be able to support such varied structures.
A team lead by Stanford University assistant professor of geological sciences Mathieu Lapôtre has proposed a solution
a combination of sintering, wind, and seasonal variability may be able to solve the problem on Titan.
The researchers looked at ooids, a type of soil that may be found on Earth and has a comparable composition to Titan.
Something similar, according to the experts, could be happening on Titan.