DOI: 10.1038/NGEO2245
论文题名: Evidence for subduction in the ice shell of Europa
作者: Kattenhorn S.A. ; Prockter L.M.
刊名: Nature Geoscience
ISSN: 17520894
出版年: 2014
卷: 7, 期: 10 起始页码: 762
结束页码: 767
语种: 英语
Scopus关键词: Galileo (spacecraft)
; ice
; Jupiter
; mid-ocean ridge
; planetary surface
; plate tectonics
; slip rate
; solar system
; subduction
; Europa Island
; Mascarene Islands
; Reunion
英文摘要: Jupiter's icy moon Europa has one of the youngest planetary surfaces in the Solar System, implying rapid recycling by some mechanism. Despite ubiquitous extension and creation of new surface area at dilational bands that resemble terrestrial midocean spreading zones, there is little evidence of large-scale contraction to balance the observed extension or to recycle ageing terrains. We address this enigma by presenting several lines of evidence that subduction may be recycling surface material into the interior of Europa's ice shell. Using Galileo spacecraft images, we produce a tectonic reconstruction of geologic features across a 134,000 km2 region of Europa and find, in addition to dilational band spreading, evidence for transform motions along prominent strike-slip faults, as well as the removal of approximately 20,000 km2 of the surface along a discrete tabular zone. We interpret this zone as a subduction-like convergent boundary that abruptly truncates older geological features and is flanked by potential cryolavas on the overriding ice. We propose that Europa's ice shell has a brittle, mobile, plate-like system above convecting warmer ice. Hence, Europa may be the only Solar System body other than Earth to exhibit a system of plate tectonics. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. Citation statistics:
资源类型: 期刊论文
标识符: http://119.78.100.158/handle/2HF3EXSE/106397
Appears in Collections: 气候减缓与适应 科学计划与规划
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作者单位: Department of Geological Sciences, University of Idaho, 875 Perimeter Drive, MS 3022, Moscow, ID, United States; Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD, United States; ConocoPhillips Company, 600 N. Dairy Ashford, Houston, TX, United States
Recommended Citation:
Kattenhorn S.A.,Prockter L.M.. Evidence for subduction in the ice shell of Europa[J]. Nature Geoscience,2014-01-01,7(10)