The Astounding Symmetry of Worlds: Polar Wander on Enceladus, Europa and Beyond

Details The Astounding Symmetry of Worlds: Polar Wander on Enceladus, Europa and Beyond The Astounding Symmetry of Worlds: Polar Wander on Enceladus, Europa and Beyond

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p31c..04s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P31C-04

Mathematics

Logic

5400 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets, 5450 Orbital And Rotational Dynamics (1221), 5475 Tectonics (8149)

Scientific paper

The Space Age has produced an amazing string of surprises in our Solar System. The most recent of these is the dawning realization that rotational stability of planets is not what it was once thought. Evidence is mounting that true polar wander (TPW: the slow shifting of planetary bodies [or their outer zones] with respect to their rotational axes) is a common process. Reorientation events have been proposed for Mars, Miranda, Enceladus, and Europa. Theoretical considerations indicate that many of the icy satellites can be reoriented under the influence of a significant mass anomaly (such as a large impact depression). The physical evidence of such events is not always obvious. The prime evidence for TPW on Enceladus is the location of volcanic activity at the south pole. Reorientation fracture patterns have not yet been identified, but the distribution of ancient cratered terrains is remarkably symmetric about the rotation pole, while crater density is symmetric about the equator, leaving an ambiguous record wrt TPW. The origin of these patterns is unclear but indicate that resurfacing geography is controlled in some manner. In contrast, a startling global symmetry of Europa's global scale lineaments and geologic units (vaguely hinted at by Voyager maps) is clear if TPW is invoked. Europa may be the most dramatic example of TPW known to date.

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