Experimental determination of acetylene and ethylene solubility in liquid methane and ethane: Implications to Titan’s surface

Singh, S.; Combe, J. Ph.; Cordier, Daniel; Wagner, A.; Chevrier, V. F.; McMahon, Z.

doi:10.1016/j.gca.2017.03.007

Cited by 20 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…With gravity on Titan being more than 7 times lower than on the Earth and the water ice or clathrate density being at least 2 times smaller than that of the terrestrial crust, one can expect fluids to percolate as deep as a few tens of kilometers although Titan's tectonics seems much less active. If the organic compounds present on Titan's surface (e.g., acetylene) can dissolve in the hydrocarbons (Singh et al., 2017), they could be entrained by the percolating liquids. Since the clathrate crust significantly reduces the stagnant lid thickness, the organics entrained by liquids may reach the convective domain and could be carried downward to the ocean.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Insulating Effect of Methane Clathrate Crust on Titan's Thermal Evolution

Kalousová

Sotin

2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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Saturn's largest moon Titan is unique for its dense, methane‐rich atmosphere, with ongoing complex organics chemistry, and the hydrocarbon lakes and seas on its frigid surface. Titan also harbors a subsurface water ocean, and its ice shell is likely capped by a thick crust of low‐conductivity methane clathrates that are very stable under Titan's surface conditions. Here, we investigate the effect of this insulating clathrate crust on convection in the ice shell. Without the clathrate crust, convection occurs below a stagnant lid that is a few tens of kilometers thick and limits the exchange between the surface and the deep ocean. We show that a 5–10 km thick clathrate crust reduces the stagnant lid thickness about threefold thus increasing the potential for the ocean‐surface exchange. Moreover, the insulating effect of clathrates dramatically decreases the amount of extracted heat thus limiting the freezing rate of Titan's ocean.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Insulating Effect of Methane Clathrate Crust on Titan's Thermal Evolution

Kalousová

Sotin

2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…At the beginning of each experiment, we purged the chamber and condenser with nitrogen gas for 10 min at 6 psi to flush the system of any contaminants (Singh et al, ). Next, we flowed liquid nitrogen through the cooling coils to cool the chamber, after which we introduced our methane and ethane gasses.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen Exsolution and Bubble Formation in Titan's Lakes

Farnsworth

Chevrier

Steckloff

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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Titan's surface liquids are composed primarily of methane, ethane, and dissolved atmospheric nitrogen. The nitrogen content depends on the alkane composition and temperature, and exsolves as bubbles when these parameters are sufficiently perturbed. Herein, we present an experimental study of nitrogen bubbles in methane-ethane liquids, and propose that both methane and ethane are required for bubbles to form under Titan conditions. Bubbles occur when methane composes 40-95 mol% of the alkanes within the liquid. We identify two mechanisms that produce bubbles: ethane mediated titration and temperature-induced stratification. Both of these mechanisms produce a metastable nitrogen supersaturation within the liquid; equilibration triggers rapid nitrogen exsolution in the form of bubbles. Such equilibration could cause bubble events in Titan's lakes, possibly explaining the transient "Magic Island" features seen by Cassini RADAR (bubbles within the liquid column), and the presence of deltas in Ontario Lacus.Plain Language Summary Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has stable lakes on its surface composed of liquid methane, ethane, and dissolved atmospheric nitrogen. While nitrogen can dissolve into the liquid (dissolution), it can also be forced out of the liquid (exsolution). Nitrogen bubbles in Titan's lakes have been hypothesized, but not experimentally measured under Titan surface conditions. Here we create bubbles in a laboratory under Titan conditions using two methods: ethane slowly added to methane (titration) and temperature-induced methane-ethane liquid layering (cooling then warming). Both mechanisms create a metastable supersaturation of nitrogen. Once the metastable limit is reached, bubble nucleation occurs, triggering rapid bubble formation. Transient bright structures observed in Titan's lakes by the Cassini RADAR, known as "Magic Islands," may in fact be bubbles within the liquid column. Bubbles can also form in rivers as they flow into lakes and seas, potentially influencing geologic structures, such as the delta seen in one of Titan's largest lakes, Ontario Lacus. Key Points:• Nitrogen bubbles were created in the laboratory under Titan surface conditions • Liquid methane and ethane must be present for bubbles to form (40-95 mol% methane-alkane ratio) • Identified two mechanisms for bubble formation: ethane titration (>86 K) and temperature-induced stratification (<86 K)Supporting Information:• Supporting information S1• Movie S1• Movie S2• Movie S3• Movie S4

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“…In all cases (measured and modeled), the solubility of molecules in liquid N2 is very low and decreases gradually with increasing molecular weight. Solubility data for the reference compounds: [120,[122][123][124][125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142].…”

Section: Low Solubility Of Chemicals In Cryosolventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life

Petkowski

Bains

Seager

2020

Life

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Despite more than one hundred years of work on organosilicon chemistry, the basis for the plausibility of silicon-based life has never been systematically addressed nor objectively reviewed. We provide a comprehensive assessment of the possibility of silicon-based biochemistry, based on a review of what is known and what has been modeled, even including speculative work. We assess whether or not silicon chemistry meets the requirements for chemical diversity and reactivity as compared to carbon. To expand the possibility of plausible silicon biochemistry, we explore silicon’s chemical complexity in diverse solvents found in planetary environments, including water, cryosolvents, and sulfuric acid. In no environment is a life based primarily around silicon chemistry a plausible option. We find that in a water-rich environment silicon’s chemical capacity is highly limited due to ubiquitous silica formation; silicon can likely only be used as a rare and specialized heteroatom. Cryosolvents (e.g., liquid N2) provide extremely low solubility of all molecules, including organosilicons. Sulfuric acid, surprisingly, appears to be able to support a much larger diversity of organosilicon chemistry than water.

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Experimental determination of acetylene and ethylene solubility in liquid methane and ethane: Implications to Titan’s surface

Cited by 20 publications

References 60 publications

The Insulating Effect of Methane Clathrate Crust on Titan's Thermal Evolution

The Insulating Effect of Methane Clathrate Crust on Titan's Thermal Evolution

Nitrogen Exsolution and Bubble Formation in Titan's Lakes

On the Potential of Silicon as a Building Block for Life

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