Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

D to H ratio and the origin and evolution of Titan's atmosphere

Nature volume 319, pages 388–390 (1986)Cite this article

Abstract

A value of 1.7 × 10−3 has been reported1 for the ratio of CH3D to CH4 in the stratosphere of the saturnian moon Titan. A lower value of 6 × 10−4 for this ratio in the deeper part of Titan's atmosphere was reported by de Bergh et al.2. For comparison3–11 we note that the CH3D to CH4 ratio on Saturn and Jupiter is 8.7 × 10−5 and 6.7 × 10−5, respectively (see Table 1). We estimate the uncertainties in all these observations and data reduction to be about a factor of 2. Despite these uncertainties it appears that Titan's atmosphere is enriched in deuterium by a factor of ≥3 relative to Jupiter and Saturn. Potential causative factors examined here for this enrichment are condensation to form tropospheric methane clouds, f ractionation occurring over a hypothetical CH4–C2H6 ocean and between the ocean and the clathrate crust beneath, fractionation which occurred during the formation of Titan and fractionation occurring as a result of the evolution of Titan's atmosphere. We conclude that the greater part of the observed fractionation is probably derived from the formation of Titan and the subsequent evolution of Titan's atmosphere driven by photochemistry.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Kim, S.-J. & Caldwell, J. Icarus 52, 473–482 (1982).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. de Bergh, C. et al. Bull. Am. astr. Soc. 13, 703 (1981).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hanel, R. et al. Science 212, 192–200 (1981).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Kunde, V. et al. Astrophys. J. 263, 443–467 (1982).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Courtin, R. et al. Astrophys. J. 287, 899–916 (1984).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. McElroy, M. B., Prather, M. J. & Rodriguez, J. M. Science 215, 1614–1615 (1982).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Donahue, T. M. et al. Science 216, 630–633 (1982).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Craig, H. Science 133, 1833–1834 (1961).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Craig, H. & Lupton, J. E. Earth planet. Sci. Lett. 31, 369–385 (1976).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Fallick, A. E. et al. Lunar planet. Sci. Abstr. XIV, 183–184 (1983).

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Bjoraker, G. L. thesis, Univ. Arizona (1985).

  12. Armstrong, G. T., Brickwedde, F. G. & Scott, R. B. J. Res. natn. Bur. Stand. 55, 39–52 (1955).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lunine, J. I., Stevenson, D. J. & Yung, Y. L. Science 222, 1229–1230 (1983).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Miller, R. C. & Staveley, L. A. K. Adv. Cryog. Eng. 21, 493–500 (1976).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Cheung, H. & Wang, D. I.-J. I. E. C. Fund. 3, 355–361 (1964).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Parrish, W. R. & Hiza, M. J. Adv. Cryog. Eng. 21, 485–492 (1976).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Lunine, J. I. & Stevenson, D. J. in Proc. NATO Conf. Ices in the Solar System (ed. Klinger, J.) (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1985).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Lunine, J. I. & Stevenson, D. J. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. (in the press).

  19. Hubbard, W. B. & MacFarlane, J. J. Icarus 44, 676–682 (1980).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Beer, R. & Taylor, F. W. Astrophys. J. 179, 309–327 (1973).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Stevenson, D. J. Planet. Space Sci. 30, 755–764 (1982).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Prinn, R. G. & Fegley, B. Jr Astrophys. J. 249, 308–317 (1981).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Solomon, P. M. & Woolf, N. J. Astrophys. J. Lett. 180, L89–L92 (1973).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Anders, E., Hayatsu, R. & Studier, M. H. Science 182, 781–790 (1973).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Lewis, J. S. & Prinn, R. G. Astrophys. J. 238, 357–364 (1980).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  26. McKee, D. W. & Norton, F. J. J. phys. Chem. 68, 481–489 (1964).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  27. McKee, D. W., J. phys. Chem. 70, 525–530 (1966).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Geiss, J. & Reeves, H. Astr. Astrophys. 93, 189–199 (1981).

    ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Strobel, D. F. Icarus 21, 466–470 (1974).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Yung, Y. L., Allen, M. & Pinto, J. P. Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 55, 465–506 (1984).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Wiberg, K. B. & Motell, E. L. Tetrahedron 19, 2009–2023 (1963).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Husain, D. et al. JCS Faraday Trans. II, 80, 713–728 (1984).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Pasteris, L. et al. Ber. Buns. Phys. Chem. 88, 568–571 (1984).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Tschuikow-Roux, E. & Niedzielski, J. J. Photochem. 27, 141–150 (1984).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  35. McElroy, M. B. & Yung, Y. L. Planet. Space Sci. 24, 1107–1113 (1976).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Lunine, J. I. thesis, California Institute of Technology (1985).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hoffman Laboratory, Department of Geological Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    Joseph P. Pinto

  2. Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721, USA

    Jonathan I. Lunine

  3. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, 20771, USA

    Sang-Joon Kim

  4. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125, USA

    Yuk L. Yung

Authors
  1. Joseph P. Pinto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jonathan I. Lunine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sang-Joon Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yuk L. Yung
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Pinto, J., Lunine, J., Kim, SJ. et al. D to H ratio and the origin and evolution of Titan's atmosphere. Nature 319, 388–390 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1038/319388a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/319388a0

Further reading

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing