The Cassini-Huygens mission helped better understand Titan’s atmosphere and surface features. Methane is the second most abundant constituent of its atmosphere (94-98% of N2); however, the active photochemistry would make the current amounts disappear in 30-100Myr, which suggests replenishment processes from the interior. In addition, the Huygens probe data provide substantial evidence that ammonia is the primordial source of Titan’s atmospheric N2. Ammonia is known to decrease the melting point of ices, which has strong implications on Titan’s current internal structure. Under Titan’s near-surface conditions, clathrate hydrates are the stable form of methane and ice together, making them a likely reservoir in the subsurface. The effect of ammonia on the stability of clathrates is poorly understood. This is why the purpose of our research is to study the interaction of ammonia with clathrate hydrates via a detailed experimental investigation of phase behavior in the ternary H2O-NH3-CP and H2O-NH3-THF systems using micro-Raman spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray diffraction. Cyclopentane and THF are different, especially in term of water solubility since CP is hydrophobic and THF owns a good solubility in water. We will present these results and the link with geophysical modeling settings of outgassing on Titan which could allow to explain the important amount of methane present in the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon.

Investigation of the influence of ammonia on the stability of cyclopentane and tetrahydrofuran clathrate hydrates using experimental methods

2019 Fall National Meeting

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