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Europa's Icy Plate Tectonics may Support Life

Plate tectonics is the icy exterior of Jupiter's moon Europa which can support life.
#Science #Life Sciences #Moon Europa #Icy Plate Tectonics
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Jupiter's moon Europa sports a chilly version of plate tectonics. The icy shell that encases the moon has sections that slide beneath each other in a similar way to Earth's continents and ocean floors. The finding strengthens the notion that Europa could harbour life. Europa has long been considered one of the best sites in the solar system to search for extraterrestrial life, because it has more water than even Earth does. Its global ocean is encased in a shell of ice 20 to 30 kilometres thick. Rust-coloured lines in the shell are thought to be areas where new ice forms. But this creates a puzzle. "Nobody thinks Europa is getting bigger," says Francis Nimmo at the University of Southern California, Santa Cruz. So where was all the ice going? Now, analysis of images from the Galileo spacecraft suggest that large chunks of ice may be returning to the ocean beneath, in the first known instance of tectonics on another world. Simon Kattenhorn at the University of Idaho and his colleagues treated the Galileo images like a massive jigsaw puzzle. In the same way geologists studying Earth's continents use the matching shapes of geological features to reconstruct past mega-continents, Kattenhorn and his colleagues spun and shifted chunks of ice around to match up truncated lines and ridges on Europa's surface. They found that a piece of the puzzle roughly the size of Massachusetts was missing. The best explanation is that it was forced under the ice crust, in a "subsumption" zone similar to Earth's subduction zones where rocky crust slides beneath rocky crust. "This paper is important because it has been very hard to identify areas where crustal destruction is taking place on Europa," says Nimmo, who did not take part in the study. On Earth, subduction is driven by our planet's hot core, which heats the mantle, causing it to rise up to the surface and move the crustal plates. Despite Europa's cold temperatures, something similar could be happening there. The surface of Europa is -173°C, but deep down the water is closer to 0°C. That temperature difference could make the deepest layers of ice move around slowly, a bit like glaciers here on Earth. That could produce enough pressure to push slush up through weak points in the brittle surface ice, driving the movement of the plates. This could be good news for life under the surface, as tectonics would deliver new material – including organic molecules deposited by comets – to this environment, which is otherwise completely sealed off from space. All this remains tantalising speculation. But it is neat to note that Earth appears to have an inside-out twin, where tectonics driven by ice instead of fire could create ideal conditions for life inside its crust, instead of on its surface. Source: New Scientist
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Marjz annotated1+ month ago

Temperature: Europa's surface temperature at the equator never rises above minus 260 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 160 degrees Celsius). At the poles of the moon, the temperature never rises above minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 220 degrees Celsius). ...

Europa — Facts And Information About Jupiter Moon Europa

Europa is an icy moon of Jupiter and one of the four so-called Galilean moons of Jupiter. See more facts about Europa and its history here.

www.space.com

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Marjz annotated1+ month ago

Europa Moon - Surface Features: In this picture, a number of red brown lines and circles are visible. The lines, which are cracks in the surface caused by tectonic stress, are known as lineae (from the Latin for line) while the circles, which are probably areas of melted then refrozen ice, are known as lenticulae (from the Latin for freckles). ...

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Marjz annotated1+ month ago

Evidence of life on Jupiter's moon Europa.

Europa's icy plate tectonics may support life - space - 08 September 2014 - New Scientist

Jupiter's moon Europa may be the first world other than Earth to sport plate tectonics, only above its ocean instead of below

www.newscientist.com

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Marjz annotated1+ month ago

As per NASA, Europa may be more Earth-like than we imagined. Scientists see signs of plate tectonics. ...

Europa may be more Earth-like than we imagined. Scientists see signs of plate tectonics: https://t.co/ydg1J06Xnl   pic.twitter.com/QIkHilizt3

— NASA (@NASA) September 8, 2014
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Marjz annotated1+ month ago

Europa's surface is mostly solid water ice. It is extremely smooth and crisscrossed by fractures. ...

Solar System Exploration: Planets: Jupiter: Moons: Europa: Overview

We are NASA's Planetary Science Division. Our hardworking robots explore the planets and more on the wild frontiers of our solar system.

solarsystem.nasa.gov

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Marjz annotated1+ month ago

Europa [yur-ROH-pah] is the sixth of Jupiter's moons and the fourth largest. Europa is named after a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus and taken to the island of Crete to be his lover. ...

Europa, moon of Jupiter - The Solar System on Sea and Sky

Europa is the sixth of Jupiter's moons and the fourth largest. Europa has a smooth outer surface of cracked ice that may contain a liquid ocean underneath.

www.seasky.org

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Marjz annotated1+ month ago

Plate tectonics is the icy exterior of Jupiter's moon Europa which can support life. ...

#Science #Life Sciences #Moon Europa #Icy Plate Tectonics
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Marjz annotated1+ month ago

Evidence of life on Jupiter's moon Europa.

Europa's icy plate tectonics may support life - space - 08 September 2014 - New Scientist

Jupiter's moon Europa may be the first world other than Earth to sport plate tectonics, only above its ocean instead of below

www.newscientist.com

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Marjz created this page1+ month ago

Hello world. It's a new page!

Marjz edited1+ month ago

Europa's Icy Plate Tectonics may Support Life

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