Experimental Heating of Complex Organic Matter at Titan’s Interior Conditions Supports Contributions to Atmospheric N2 and CH4
Titan’s abundant atmospheric N2 and CH4 gases are notable characteristics of the moon that may help constrain its origins and evolution. Previous work suggests that atmospheric CH4 is lost on geologically short timescales and may be replenished from an interior source. Isotopic and noble gas constraints indicate that N2 may derive from a mixture of NH3 ice and heating of organic matter.
Here, we report experimental results from hydrothermal alteration of insoluble organic matter from the Murchison meteorite and analog insoluble organic matter at temperatures and pressures that are relevant to Titan’s interior.
Our results indicate both CH4 and CO2 are formed, with the ratio between the two depending on a multitude of factors, particularly temperature and, to a lesser degree, the dielectric constant of water and carbonyl abundance in the starting material.
Sufficient CH4 is produced to source Titan’s atmospheric reservoir if temperatures are greater than 250°C. Nitrogen is volatilized, primarily in the form of NH3, in sufficient abundances to source at least 50% of Titan’s atmospheric N2.
The isotopic characteristics of volatilized material relative to the starting organics are consistent with current constraints for the nature of the accreted complex organics and Titan’s evolved atmosphere.
Predominance plots for major compounds in the COH system. Regions in redox-pH space where each compound is most abundant at equilibrium are marked, and the lines show the redox-pH condition at which the chemical activities of the two compounds on either side of the line are equal. The identity of the two compounds is given by the line color. (a) Trends as pressure increases at a constant temperature of 250°C. Pressure increases from 1 kbar (solid line) to 3 kbar (dashed line) to 8 kbar (dotted line) to 10 kbar (dash dot line). The red arrow shows the direction that each boundary in the predominance plot moves with increasing pressure. Panel (b) holds pressure constant at 8 kbar, and shows the effect of increasing temperature: 100 °C (solid line), 250 °C (dashed line), 350°C (dotted line), and 500 °C (dash dot line). Line colors in panel (b) are the same as in panel (a). — astro-ph.EP
Kelly E. Miller, Dionysis I. Foustoukos, George Cody, Conel M. O’D. Alexander
Comments: 64 pages, 13 figures; to be published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta
Subjects: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2412.14045 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:2412.14045v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2412.14045
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Submission history
From: Kelly Miller
[v1] Wed, 18 Dec 2024 17:00:46 UTC (4,760 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.14045
Astrobiology,
