[X] My Assistant

[Juramike]

Recent article in Science by Zebker et al.:

Zebker et al. Science in press, "Size and Shape of Saturn's Moon Titan". doi: 10.1126/science.1168905
(published online April 2, 2009)

Link to abstract (pay-for article): http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1168905

Article on spaceref discusses this paper: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=27912

Figure 3 from the Science article is a global elevation map relative to barycenter.

Key points of article:

• Poles are squished - might explain why lakes are up there
• "Mountains" aren't necessarily elevated - they might've sunk down into the crust to form "a basin of their own creation".
• (quote from spaceref. article)
• Large scale features do not appear correlated with elevation
• Xanadu and Tseghi are BASINS! (ca. -600 m to barycenter)
• Adiri is higher than Xanadu (by almost 1 km)
• Dilmun is also pretty elevated (+ 400 m relative to barycenter)
• highest elevated terrain on Titan seems to be region around "Adiri junior" in the S Senkyo "basin" at ca. + 600 m above barycenter
• Shangri-La "basin" is elevated +400-800 m ABOVE Xanadu (using barycenter elevations in Fig. 3)

"Xanadu seems to be systematically lower than other parts of the equatorial belt, and not uplifted like most mountainous areas on Earth." (quote from Fig. 3 caption in article)

-Mike

[ngunn]

Against that suggestion I would note that these ovals really are very elongated and seem to be nicely aligned with the flow direction. There are craters and other raised features with leeward tails on Titan, but those do not resemble the spooky dude formation at all. Having said that, the possibility that resistant bedrock contributes part of the morphology, perhaps an important functional part, is also recognised in the literature and I wouldn't dismiss it entirely. My inclination for the moment, though, is to see the whole thing - dark playa material and bright pebbly moraines - as a drift deposit.