The Effects of Methane Clathrates on the Thermal and Seismic Profile of Titan's Icy Lithosphere

Abstract

We investigate the effects of methane clathrates on Titan’s thermal and seismic structure. The Dragonfly mission is planned to arrive at Titan in 2033 with a payload that includes a seismic package. The seismic instruments are tasked with recording seismic events and recovering the internal structure. Here, we explore whether differences in thermal and seismic profiles between a pure water ice shell and an ice shell with a clathrate lid could be detectable with seismic instrumentation. Due to their lower thermal conductivity, clathrates reduce the conductive lid thickness thus altering the thermal profile. The differences between seismic velocities of clathrates and pure water ice, coupled with changes in the thermal profile, indicate the clathrate lid will create lower seismic velocities, particularly for the upper 10 km of the surface ice shell. The differences in P and S velocity at the surface are 2.9% and 4.5%, respectively, and reach up to 8.4% (for both P and S) at a depth of 9.6 km. Due to changes in thermal profile, the seismic attenuation of the ice shell will change such that clathrates will suppress surface wave amplitudes relative to the pure water ice model. The clathrate lid will further create minor changes (≤2.0%) in the surface wave dispersion curves. Dragonfly, or other future seismic investigations, could provide evidence for or against the presence of a clathrate lid by constraining the thermal and seismic profile of Titan’s ice shell, by measuring the relative amplitudes of the surface to body waves, or by constraining the surface wave dispersion with high accuracy and precision.