Volcanoes on Saturn's Titan erupt ice

William Atkins
Thursday, 16 December 2010 00:04

Science - Space

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found what astronomers think are ice volcanoes on Titan, a moon of the planet Saturn. These ice volcanoes, called cryovolcanoes, appear to be similar in structure to volcanoes here on Earth.

 

Even though they appear structurally similar to Earth volcanoes, they erupt materials a bit different than here on our home planet.

Instead of erupting molten rock, these volcanoes on Titan shoot out ice.

The December 14, 2010 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) article 'Cassini Spots Potential Ice Volcano On Saturn Moon' states, 'Topography and surface composition data have enabled scientists to make the best case yet in the outer solar system for an Earth-like volcano landform that erupts in ice. The results were presented today at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.'

American geophysicist Randolph Kirk, a member of the Cassini team, stated in the article, 'When we look at our new 3-D map of Sotra Facula on Titan, we are struck by its resemblance to volcanoes like Mt. Etna in Italy, Laki in Iceland and even some small volcanic cones and flows near my hometown of Flagstaff.'

Sotra Facula is an area on Titan that contains the ice volcano. The two peaks shown in the JPL image shows two peaks that are over 3,000 feet (1,000 meters) tall and as deep as 5,000 feet (1,500 meters).

Dr. Kirk is from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Ice volcanoes have already been tagged by astronomers. They are called cryovolcanoes.

And, they are thought to ''¦ exist on ice-rich moons' and produce ice eruptions because of 'subterranean geological activity [that] warms the cold environment enough to melt part of the satellite's interior and sends slushy ice or other materials through an opening in the surface.'

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