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7 - Tectonics of the outer planet satellites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2010

Geoffrey C. Collins
Affiliation:
Wheaton College, Norton
William B. McKinnon
Affiliation:
Washington University, Saint Louis
Jeffrey M. Moore
Affiliation:
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field
Francis Nimmo
Affiliation:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Robert T. Pappalardo
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Louise M. Prockter
Affiliation:
Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel
Paul M. Schenk
Affiliation:
Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston
Thomas R. Watters
Affiliation:
Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
Richard A. Schultz
Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Reno
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Summary

Summary

Tectonic features on the satellites of the outer planets range from the familiar, such as clearly recognizable graben on many satellites, to the bizarre, such as the ubiquitous double ridges on Europa, the twisting sets of ridges on Triton, or the isolated giant mountains rising from Io's surface. All of the large and middle-sized outer planet satellites except Io are dominated by water ice near their surfaces. Though ice is a brittle material at the cold temperatures found in the outer solar system, the amount of energy it takes to bring it close to its melting point is lower than for a rocky body. Therefore, some unique features of icy satellite tectonics may be influenced by a near-surface ductile layer beneath the brittle surface material, and several of the icy satellites may possess subsurface oceans. Sources of stress to drive tectonism are commonly dominated by the tides that deform these satellites as they orbit their primary giant planets. On several satellites, the observed tectonic features may be the result of changes in their tidal figures, or motions of their solid surfaces with respect to their tidal figures. Other driving mechanisms for tectonics include volume changes due to ice or water phase changes in the interior, thermoelastic stress, deformation of the surface above rising diapirs of warm ice, and motion of subsurface material toward large impact basins as they fill in and relax.

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