How to Form a Methane Lake - on Titan
THIS ARTICLE caught my attention. Not only are methane and ethane lakes very odd to start with but it is now suggested that they were formed by nitrogen blasting from below ground level!
Their shape - tall rims rising steeply from the surrounding terrain - is similar to the craters on Earth which form when water and magma interact underground and then explode through the surface.
Titan's lakes may form when rising temperatures cause buried nitrogen to vaporise and blow out through the crust.
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| Circular features on Titan resemble earthly lakes excavated by sub-surface explosions. Credit: NASA PDS |
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