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Material transport across Europa's ice shell
Author(s) -
Allu Peddinti Divya,
McNamara Allen K.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl063950
Subject(s) - geology , convection , front (military) , shell (structure) , icy moon , geophysics , astrobiology , lead (geology) , planet , geomorphology , oceanography , saturn , mechanics , materials science , physics , composite material , astrophysics
Jupiter's moon Europa exhibits a deformed icy surface with salt deposits concentrated along the varied geological features. The topographic alignment of salt deposits has been speculated to indicate an endogenic sourcing of the material. Two‐way transport of salts from a liquid‐water ocean beneath the ice shell to the surface, and vice versa, has been speculated. We present dynamical models that demonstrate the incorporation of newly frozen ice into convective plumes within the ice shell, caused by convection within the ice shell that drives dynamic topography along the ice‐ocean boundary. The new ice that forms at the freezing front can be transported by the rising ice plumes toward the surface until it is blocked by a high‐viscosity lid at the surface. Weakening of the lid by tidal or tectonic forces could then lead to the surface detection of ocean trace chemistry captured in the newly formed ice.