Formation of lenticulae on Europa by saucer-shaped sills
Abstract
Europa's surface contains numerous quasi-elliptical features called pits, domes, spots and small chaos. We propose that these features, collectively referred to as lenticulae, are the surface expression of saucer-shaped sills of liquid water in Europa's ice shell. In particular, the inclined sheets of water that surround a horizontal inner sill limit the lateral extent of intrusion, setting the lateral dimension of lenticulae. Furthermore, the inclined sheets disrupt the ice above the intrusion allowing the inner sill to thicken to produce the observed relief of lenticulae and to fracture the crust to form small chaos. Scaling relationships between sill depth and lateral extent imply that the hypothesized intrusions are, or were, 1–5 km below the surface. Lastly, liquid water is predicted to exist presently under pits and for a finite time under chaos and domes.
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science
- Univ. Paris Diderot, Paris (France). Inst. de Physique du Globe de Paris
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1479307
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Icarus
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 286; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0019-1035
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES
Citation Formats
Manga, Michael, and Michaut, Chloé. Formation of lenticulae on Europa by saucer-shaped sills. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2016.10.009.
Manga, Michael, & Michaut, Chloé. Formation of lenticulae on Europa by saucer-shaped sills. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.10.009
Manga, Michael, and Michaut, Chloé. Thu .
"Formation of lenticulae on Europa by saucer-shaped sills". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.10.009. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1479307.
@article{osti_1479307,
title = {Formation of lenticulae on Europa by saucer-shaped sills},
author = {Manga, Michael and Michaut, Chloé},
abstractNote = {Europa's surface contains numerous quasi-elliptical features called pits, domes, spots and small chaos. We propose that these features, collectively referred to as lenticulae, are the surface expression of saucer-shaped sills of liquid water in Europa's ice shell. In particular, the inclined sheets of water that surround a horizontal inner sill limit the lateral extent of intrusion, setting the lateral dimension of lenticulae. Furthermore, the inclined sheets disrupt the ice above the intrusion allowing the inner sill to thicken to produce the observed relief of lenticulae and to fracture the crust to form small chaos. Scaling relationships between sill depth and lateral extent imply that the hypothesized intrusions are, or were, 1–5 km below the surface. Lastly, liquid water is predicted to exist presently under pits and for a finite time under chaos and domes.},
doi = {10.1016/j.icarus.2016.10.009},
journal = {Icarus},
number = C,
volume = 286,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Oct 13 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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