Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p33b1578o&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P33B-1578
Physics
[5475] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Tectonics, [5770] Planetary Sciences: Fluid Planets / Tidal Forces, [6221] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Europa, [6280] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Saturnian Satellites
Scientific paper
The icy fractured surfaces of both Enceladus and Europa offer many candidate faults for studying both past and potentially present tectonic activity. Here we investigate the role of both diurnal and non-synchronous rotation (NSR) tidal stresses in the development of Enceladus’s tiger stripes and fractures on Europa, notably Agenor Linea. For Enceladus, our objectives are to constrain ice shell thickness, and thus its implied water ocean depth, through assessment of the conditions which permit tidally driven (diurnal) Coulomb failure of the tiger stripe fractures. We find that thin to moderate ice shell thicknesses (< 40 km) support failure along the Enceladus tiger stripes, assuming low ice coefficients of friction (0.1 - 0.3) and shallow fracture depths (< 3 km). In contrast, diurnal tidal stresses on Europa may be insufficient to cause Coulomb failure; thus, we consider the role of NSR as a secular stress source for strike-slip faulting. Preliminary application of the Coulomb failure criterion, assuming μf = 0.2 and a fault depth of 6 km, reveals that a combination of NSR (104 - 105 yr period) and diurnal tidal stresses are required for Agenor Linea to succumb to right-lateral shear failure at specific portions of the orbital cycle. We further explore the relationship of NSR to Agenor Linea’s east-west orientation and find that if the fault were instead oriented in the north-south direction, NSR would generate only left-lateral shear and compressive normal stress, neither of which could constructively combine to produce the inferred right-lateral shear. Together, these tidally driven failure models for Enceladus and Europa are providing key insights into the frictional and material properties, and their variation and orientation with depth, of active fault systems on icy satellites.
Icy Moons Tectonics Team
Olgin John G.
Pappalardo Robert T.
Smith-Konter Bridget R.
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