The surface of Saturn's moon Titan dissolves in a similar process that creates sinkholes on Earth and could be the origin of its mysterious lakes, a new study suggests.
Apart from Earth, Titan is the only body in the Solar System known to possess surface lakes and seas, as seen by the international Cassini mission.
But at roughly minus 180 degrees Celsius, the surface of Titan is very cold and liquid methane and ethane, rather than water, dominate the 'hydrological' cycle.
There are vast seas several hundred kilometres across and up to several hundred metres deep, fed by river-like dendritic channels, researchers said.
Then there are numerous smaller, shallower lakes, with rounded edges and steep walls, and generally found in flat areas. Many empty depressions are also observed.
The lakes are generally not associated with rivers, and are thought to fill up by rainfall and liquids flooding up from underneath.
Some of the lakes fill and dry out again during the 30-year seasonal cycle on Saturn and Titan.
But quite how the depressions hosting the lakes came about in the first place is poorly understood.
Scientists have discovered that Titan's lakes are reminiscent of 'karstic' landforms seen on Earth.
These are terrestrial landscapes that result from erosion of soluble rocks such as limestone and gypsum in groundwater and rainfall percolating through rocks.
Over time, this leads to features including sinkholes and caves under humid climates, and salt-pans under more arid climates.
The rate of erosion depends on factors such as the chemistry of the rocks, the rainfall rate and the surface temperature.
While all of these aspects clearly differ between Titan and Earth, the underlying process may be surprisingly similar.
A team led by ESA's Thomas Cornet calculated how long it would take for patches of Titan's surface to dissolve to create these features.
They assumed that the surface is covered in solid organic material, and that the main dissolving agent is liquid hydrocarbons, and took into account present-day models of Titan's climate.
The scientists found that it would take around 50 million years to create a 100 metre-deep depression at Titan's relatively rainy high polar latitudes, consistent with the youthful age of the moon's surface.
"We compared the erosion rates of organics in liquid hydrocarbons on Titan with those of carbonate and evaporite minerals in liquid water on Earth," said Thomas.
"We found that the dissolution process occurs on Titan some 30 times slower than on Earth due to the longer length of Titan's year and the fact it only rains during Titan summer.
"Nevertheless, we believe that dissolution is a major cause of landscape evolution on Titan, and could be the origin of its lakes," said Thomas.
