Episodic plate separation and fracture infill on the surface of Europa

Robert Sullivan (), Ronald Greeley, Kim Homan, James Klemaszewski, Michael J. S. Belton, Michael H. Carr, Clark R. Chapman, Randy Tufts, James W. Head, Robert Pappalardo, Jeffrey Moore, Peter Thomas and the Galileo Imaging Team
Additional contact information
Robert Sullivan: Box 871404 Arizona State University
Ronald Greeley: Box 871404 Arizona State University
Kim Homan: Box 871404 Arizona State University
James Klemaszewski: Box 871404 Arizona State University
Michael J. S. Belton: National Optical Astronomy Observatory
Michael H. Carr: US Geological Survey
Clark R. Chapman: Southwest Research Institute
Randy Tufts: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona
James W. Head: Brown University
Robert Pappalardo: Brown University
Jeffrey Moore: Ames Research Center
Peter Thomas: Cornell University

Nature, 1998, vol. 391, issue 6665, 371-373

Abstract: Abstract Images obtained by the Voyager spacecraft revealed dark, wedge-shaped bands on Europa that were interpreted as evidence that surface plates, 50–100 km across, moved and rotated relative to each other1. This implied that they may be mechanically decoupled from the interior by a layer of warm ice or liquid water2,3. Here we report similar features seen in higher resolution images (420 metres per pixel) obtained by the Galileo spacecraft that reveal new details of wedge-band formation. In particular, the interior of one dark band shows bilateral symmetry of parallel lineaments and pit complexes which indicates that plate separation occurred in discrete episodes from a central axis. The images also show that this style of tectonic activity involved plates

Date: 1998
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DOI: 10.1038/34874

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