Physical and Chemical Processes in Titan's Interdunes

Titan's organic sand seas cover ~20% of its surface, a higher fraction than on any other planetary body. The sand coverage within those seas is not continuous, however. As on Earth, Titan's sand seas are characterized... [ view full abstract ]

Titan's organic sand seas cover ~20% of its surface, a higher
fraction than on any other planetary body. The sand coverage
within those seas is not continuous, however. As on Earth, Titan's sand
seas are characterized primarily by longitudinal dunes separated by
sand-free interdune areas. We will present an initial consideration of
the nature of Titan's interdunes based on analogies with interdune
processes operating in Earth's Namib, Arabian, and Saharan deserts.
Despite its wildly different chemistry, Titan's methane/ethane hydrology
permits the formation of evaporites, which are evident in at least some
of Titan's interdune regions. Similar evaporitic interdunes are found in
the Arabian desert, among other places A much larger fraction of Titan's
interdunes appears to be dirty water ice, perhaps with surfaces similar
in spectral character to that of the Huygens Landing Site. The
Namib's gravel-encrusted interdunes might be good analogs for both types
of these interdunes found on Titan. Finally, Titan's Belet sand sea
has low-contrast overall, implying either no interdunes or sand-covered
interdunes. Given limitations in the present dataset, these could be
either free sand, or sand cemented into Titan sandstone. Given the
diversity of processes operating in interdunes on Earth, we anticipate
that those on Titan will show similar local differences.