Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 2007
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.2308h&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #23.08; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.453
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
Scientific paper
Ridges are ubiquitous on Europa; parts of the satellite are covered solely by multiple generations of overprinted ridge pairs. Typically, ridges are 100-300 m in height, a few kilometers in width, and contain a central trough. Many ridge-formation scenarios have been suggested, including runaway frictional heating along fractures, which causes a temperature increase and leads to buoyant uplift along the fracture. Here we present 2D and 3D numerical simulations of ice-shell convection to test the role of shear heating and weakening by fractures on Europan ridge formation. We used the finite-element codes ConMan and CitCom to solve the equations governing thermal convection in Europa's ice shell in two- and three- dimensional Cartesian geometry. Our simulations show that a pre-existing fracture zone promotes upwelling and lithospheric thinning, leading to topographic uplift of 50 m; although promising, this is insufficient to explain the topography of Europan ridges. Shear heating also promotes lithospheric thinning and buoyant ascent, producing a linear feature with topography up to 120 m. Topography remains linear along strike even under the influence of heterogeneous 3D convection within the ice shell. Our simulated topography broadly resembles that of Europan ridges, including (in most simulations) the shallow marginal troughs on either side of the ridge, although the central trough is not reproduced. Despite this deficiency, our simulations support the idea that shear heating can produce Europa's ridges. Although the simulations presented here assumed a pure-ice composition, compositional effects could play an important role in ridge formation, and these effects will be considered in a future study.
Han Lijie
Showman Adam P.
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