Heat flows through the ice lithosphere of Europa

Details Heat flows through the ice lithosphere of Europa Heat flows through the ice lithosphere of Europa

Dec 2000

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000jgr...10529283r&link_type=abstract

Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 105, Issue E12, p. 29283-29290

Mathematics

Logic

7

Physical Properties Of Rocks: Fracture And Flow, Planetology: Solid Surface Planets, Planetology: Solid Surface Planets: Heat Flow, Planetology: Solar System Objects: Jovian Satellites

Scientific paper

Some of the geological features on the surface of Europa's ice shell suggest the existence of a brittle lithosphere that in some regions is no more than 2 km thick. The surface heat flow needed to put the brittle-ductile transition in ice at a depth of 2 km is at least ~100 mW m-2, much higher than predicted by tidal heating models for a purely conductive ice shell. A possible explanation lies in the probable existence of a convective layer beneath the brittle lithosphere, which, owing to tidal dissipation in warm ice, could contribute to higher heat flows. If a convective subsurface layer and grain size dependent flow behavior of ice are admitted, the grain size at brittle-ductile transition depth cannot be >1 mm, which is consistent with the required value for the onset of convection in an ice shell thinner than 20 km.

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