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Titan's Equatorial Sand Seas
Juramike
post May 7 2007, 03:53 PM
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I’ve put together a sequence of events that could explain the morphology of the Equatorial Sand Seas. (An example basin similar to Shangri-La is shown)

This could explain the ria-like topography [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ria] on the Eastern shore, as well as the VIMS dark blue western parts of the Sand seas, and the placement of the dark brown unit on the Eastern parts of the sand seas.

1. Basin formation.
2. Water-ice sand deposition [slowly, suddenly?] forms an ice-sand margin
3. Mobile dark brown dune sands deposit on E side, depositing inland up W facing valleys.


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The dark brown sands will blow in following the predominantly W winds and make a dust coating on low-lying terrains on the eastern margins. This will be visible by VIMS and ISS as the dark-bright margin, placed “inland” from the "real margin" and will accentuate the local topography as seen by optical instruments. This accentuation on the E margin will make the Equatorial Sand Sea visible margin look “swoopy” and windblown (in effect, it is) from the dark basin. Similarly, the W margin will have a dark blue zone that appears blown from the western bright areas.

On the Eastern shore, the RADAR images will place the smooth-dark/mottled gray boundary far to the W of the VIMS brown dark-bright margin. (RADAR should be able to penetrate a thin coating of dark sands). The features in the limbo zone have been covered by dark sands, perhaps not enough to form dune structures, but enough to cover up the ice-sand margin, the near shore terrain, and perhaps even some of the underlying bright terrain.


This makes the deposition sequence in the Equatorial Sand Seas:
1: Basin formation
2. Major water ice sand emplacement
3. Dune sands cover up low-lying downwind valleys (enough to mask visible imagery)

Other Equatorial Sand Sea basins should look very similar around Titan: Shangri-La, Belet, Senkyo, Fensal and Quivra. Local winds may play a bonus role, but the overall trend of dark sand deposition up valley should be towards the E. For example: the false-color image in Figure 6 of the Soderblom paper seems to imply a predominant wind vector in Fensal and Quivra to the ESE.

[I’m pretty sure all this has been described in pieces before, but it gave me a really great excuse to play with PowerPoint. wink.gif ]

-Mike
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Posts in this topic
- Juramike   Titan's Equatorial Sand Seas   May 7 2007, 03:53 PM
- - Juramike   I’ve put together another hypothetical series of e...   May 8 2007, 11:44 PM
|- - volcanopele   QUOTE (Juramike @ May 8 2007, 04:44 PM) I...   May 10 2007, 07:15 PM
- - ngunn   Just in case you're wondering Mike I'm fol...   May 9 2007, 02:39 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ May 9 2007, 10:39 AM) Also...   May 9 2007, 05:35 PM
|- - Littlebit   QUOTE (ngunn @ May 9 2007, 08:39 AM) Just...   May 9 2007, 05:55 PM
|- - Juramike   Here is an example of a smaller isolated Dune Sea....   May 11 2007, 10:08 PM
- - remcook   I think a massive rain storm around the equator mi...   May 9 2007, 02:51 PM
- - Juramike   There are a few examples of both RADAR dark and RA...   May 10 2007, 11:00 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (Juramike @ May 11 2007, 12:00 AM) ...   May 11 2007, 07:04 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ May 11 2007, 03:04 PM) Nic...   May 11 2007, 07:34 PM
|- - rlorenz   QUOTE (Juramike @ May 11 2007, 03:34 PM) ...   May 12 2007, 03:40 PM
|- - ngunn   [quote name='rlorenz' date='May 12 200...   May 12 2007, 08:01 PM
- - Juramike   Here are some images and locations where dunes hav...   May 11 2007, 09:46 PM
- - lyford   Thanks for all the awesomeness, Juramike   May 12 2007, 03:10 AM
- - ngunn   Mike, in your first illustration in post 11 (for e...   May 12 2007, 07:35 PM
- - Matt   I stumbled a publication (PDF) entitled: 'Com...   May 13 2007, 09:23 PM
- - Matt   I stumbled upon a publication, rather.   May 13 2007, 09:28 PM
- - Mongo   ^link? Bill   May 13 2007, 10:28 PM
- - Matt   http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/2222...   May 13 2007, 11:00 PM
- - Juramike   I’ve put together a hypothetical sequence that cou...   May 14 2007, 03:00 PM
- - Exploitcorporations   This seems like as good a place as any to deposit ...   May 14 2007, 06:30 PM
- - Juramike   Wow! Thank you, Exploitcorporations! (Lo...   May 14 2007, 06:40 PM
|- - volcanopele   QUOTE (Juramike @ May 14 2007, 11:40 AM) ...   May 14 2007, 07:44 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (volcanopele @ May 14 2007, 03:44 P...   May 14 2007, 09:15 PM
- - remcook   simply...wow! amazing how sharp it is!   May 14 2007, 07:06 PM
- - Juramike   QUOTE (rlorenz @ May 12 2007, 11:40 AM) W...   May 14 2007, 08:22 PM
- - volcanopele   hmm, I suspect that the feature you thought was Ks...   May 14 2007, 09:29 PM
- - Juramike   Are there easy ways to discern between a cryovolca...   May 14 2007, 09:40 PM
- - volcanopele   Well, it would be nice if it erupted. That would ...   May 14 2007, 09:56 PM
- - Juramike   Hmmm. Actually, there might be a way to see a rec...   May 17 2007, 06:43 PM
- - Exploitcorporations   Here's another work in progress. This makeover...   May 18 2007, 01:35 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Very nice. I hope you will do more of these. Phi...   May 18 2007, 01:48 AM
- - belleraphon1   Exploitcorporations All your work is breathtaking...   May 18 2007, 02:09 AM
- - Juramike   Wow!! That is totally awesome!!...   May 18 2007, 03:28 PM
- - Juramike   One of the dark channels from the T8 RADAR swath ...   May 21 2007, 08:06 PM
- - helvick   Surely Titan's Saturn synchronous orbit would ...   May 21 2007, 08:19 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (helvick @ May 21 2007, 04:19 PM) S...   May 21 2007, 08:34 PM
- - alan   I remember reading a paper before Cassini reached ...   May 22 2007, 01:04 AM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (alan @ May 21 2007, 03:04 PM) I re...   May 22 2007, 01:44 AM
- - Mongo   If Titan had global oceans on its surface, its tid...   May 22 2007, 01:42 AM
- - ngunn   We have a beautiful example of a tidal channel her...   May 22 2007, 09:28 AM
- - ngunn   Menai Strait chart attached: Note that this is q...   May 22 2007, 12:17 PM
- - Juramike   (I sooooo totally could not resist this...) Furt...   May 22 2007, 02:24 PM
- - ngunn   If we are saying that the equatorial basins once c...   May 22 2007, 04:33 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ May 22 2007, 12:33 PM) If ...   May 22 2007, 06:02 PM
- - David   Are the sand basins really very far below the surr...   May 22 2007, 07:10 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (David @ May 22 2007, 03:10 PM) Are...   May 23 2007, 02:28 PM
- - ngunn   Another question, Mike. I'm looking at the ...   May 23 2007, 02:53 PM
- - Littlebit   Excellant theory, Mike. If the sand dunes are stil...   May 23 2007, 03:16 PM
- - Juramike   Ngunn, it fits pretty close. I suspect that there...   May 23 2007, 03:23 PM
- - ngunn   I certainly find these ideas plausible - and now y...   May 23 2007, 03:50 PM
- - alan   Would the strength of these tides tides vary with ...   May 24 2007, 01:00 AM
|- - rlorenz   QUOTE (alan @ May 23 2007, 09:00 PM) Woul...   May 26 2007, 01:29 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (rlorenz @ May 26 2007, 09:29 AM) A...   Jun 4 2007, 04:31 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (Juramike @ Jun 4 2007, 05:31 PM) F...   Jun 5 2007, 10:32 AM
||- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 5 2007, 06:32 AM) Are ...   Jun 5 2007, 04:34 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (Juramike @ Jun 4 2007, 05:31 PM) I...   Jun 5 2007, 11:12 AM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 5 2007, 07:12 AM) I...   Jun 5 2007, 05:52 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (Juramike @ Jun 5 2007, 06:52 PM) b...   Jun 5 2007, 08:12 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 5 2007, 04:12 PM) The ...   Jun 5 2007, 09:10 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (Juramike @ Jun 5 2007, 10:10 PM) H...   Jun 6 2007, 10:07 AM
- - Juramike   I used the published altimetry data to try and est...   May 29 2007, 04:33 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (Juramike @ May 29 2007, 09:33 AM) ...   May 29 2007, 05:10 PM
- - Juramike   I used the "ski tracks" feature in the T...   May 29 2007, 06:18 PM
- - Stu   Fascinating reading as always Juramike, thanks. Yo...   May 29 2007, 06:45 PM
- - Juramike   My WAG about the "dancing monkey" or ...   May 29 2007, 07:17 PM
- - ngunn   Well, one striking characteristic of the 'hood...   Jun 5 2007, 06:07 PM
- - Juramike   That's a really good point on the clean-lookin...   Jun 5 2007, 07:46 PM
- - Juramike   Following the calculations in the Sagan, Dermott, ...   Jun 5 2007, 10:07 PM
- - Juramike   Does anyone have an idea what the heck these are? ...   Jun 5 2007, 10:18 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (Juramike @ Jun 5 2007, 11:18 PM) D...   Jun 6 2007, 02:47 PM
- - ngunn   A further thought - two plausible eruption product...   Jun 6 2007, 12:02 PM
- - Juramike   Cryopumice is a very interesting concept. Those t...   Jun 6 2007, 05:36 PM
|- - volcanopele   QUOTE (Juramike @ Jun 6 2007, 10:36 AM) W...   Jun 6 2007, 06:35 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (volcanopele @ Jun 6 2007, 02:35 PM...   Jun 6 2007, 09:16 PM
- - volcanopele   I think such a feature might have been seen in nor...   Jun 6 2007, 09:47 PM
- - Juramike   Cool-o! Was that by RADAR or VIMS? Got coord...   Jun 6 2007, 09:49 PM
- - volcanopele   You know, ISS does take images of Titan too... ...   Jun 6 2007, 10:20 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (volcanopele @ Jun 6 2007, 06:20 PM...   Jun 6 2007, 10:46 PM
- - Juramike   Here is an image of the feature (multi-ring Minrva...   Jun 6 2007, 10:57 PM
- - volcanopele   Yeah, I just don't see how that is similar to ...   Jun 6 2007, 11:21 PM
- - Juramike   I was taking the analogy of it looking like it had...   Jun 6 2007, 11:59 PM
- - volcanopele   Now that feature in Aaru reminds me of Menrva, wit...   Jun 7 2007, 12:11 AM
- - Juramike   I've put together a list and maps of speculati...   Jun 7 2007, 12:36 AM
- - volcanopele   The problem is that most of those are oblong featu...   Jun 7 2007, 12:56 AM
- - Juramike   Yup. I think you're right. Most the features...   Jun 7 2007, 01:07 AM
- - ngunn   Where do you find the time, Mike???? Anyhow thanks...   Jun 7 2007, 09:40 AM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 7 2007, 05:40 AM) Wher...   Jun 7 2007, 06:50 PM
- - Juramike   Approximately 60% (30 out of 50) of the “circular/...   Jun 14 2007, 02:49 PM
- - Juramike   Here is a short list of possible suspects for the ...   Jun 14 2007, 07:23 PM
|- - ngunn   QUOTE (Juramike @ Jun 14 2007, 08:23 PM) ...   Jun 15 2007, 09:28 AM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 15 2007, 05:28 AM) I h...   Jun 15 2007, 06:24 PM
- - Juramike   From the “circular features” EXCEL table above, I ...   Jun 15 2007, 11:18 PM
- - Juramike   I plotted the outer/inner diameter measurements of...   Jun 20 2007, 01:57 AM
- - ngunn   Juramike I salute your work, but sadly I doubt if ...   Jun 20 2007, 09:42 PM
|- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 20 2007, 05:42 PM) Phi...   Jun 21 2007, 03:15 PM
|- - dvandorn   QUOTE (Juramike @ Jun 21 2007, 10:15 AM) ...   Jun 21 2007, 03:36 PM
- - ngunn   Ganymede et.al. Undoubtedly we can look to the Gal...   Jun 20 2007, 10:02 PM
- - Juramike   QUOTE (ngunn @ Jun 20 2007, 06:02 PM) Gan...   Jun 21 2007, 04:04 PM
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