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Comparison of Early Evolutions of Mimas and Enceladus

Acta Geophysica volume 63, pages 900–921 (2015)Cite this article

Abstract

Thermal history of Mimas and Enceladus is investigated from the beginning of accretion to 400 Myr. The numerical model of convection combined with the parameterized theory is used. The following heat sources are included: short lived and long lived radioactive isotopes, accretion, serpentinization, and phase changes. The heat transfer processes are: conduction, solid state convection, and liquid state convection. We find that temperature of Mimas’ interior was significantly lower than that of Enceladus. If Mimas accreted 1.8 Myr after CAI then the internal melting and differentiation did not occur at all. Comparison of thermal models of Mimas and Enceladus indicates that conditions favorable for the start of tidal heating lasted for a short time (~107 yr) in Mimas and for ~108 yr in Enceladus. This could explain the Mimas—Enceladus paradox. In fact, in view of the chronology based on cometary impact rate, one cannot discard a possibility that also Mimas was for some time active and it has the interior differentiated on porous core and icy mantle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysics, University of Warsaw, Warszawa, Poland

    Leszek Czechowski & Piotr Witek

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  1. Leszek Czechowski
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  2. Piotr Witek
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Correspondence to Leszek Czechowski.

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Czechowski, L., Witek, P. Comparison of Early Evolutions of Mimas and Enceladus. Acta Geophys. 63, 900–921 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1515/acgeo-2015-0024

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Key words

  • medium-sized satellites
  • thermal evolution
  • differentiation
  • Mimas—Enceladus paradox