Solid tidal friction above a liquid water reservoir as the origin of the South Pole Hotspot on Enceladus

Details Solid tidal friction above a liquid water reservoir as the origin of the South Pole Hotspot on Enceladus Solid tidal friction above a liquid water reservoir as the origin of the South Pole Hotspot on Enceladus

Dec 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007agufm.p11f..04t&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007, abstract #P11F-04

Other

5220 Hydrothermal Systems And Weathering On Other Planets, 5418 Heat Flow, 5422 Ices, 5480 Volcanism (6063, 8148, 8450), 5770 Tidal Forces

Scientific paper

Earth, Jupiter's moon Io and Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus are the only solid objects in the solar system to be sufficiently geologically active for their internal heat to be detected by remote sensing. But in contrast to the Earth and Io, the endogenic activity on Enceladus is only located on a specific region at the South Pole, from which jets of water vapor and ice particles have been observed. The current polar location of the thermal anomaly can be explained by diapir-induced reorientation of the satellite, but the thermal anomaly triggering and the heat power required to sustain it over geological timescales remain problematic. Using a tri-dimensional viscoelastic numerical model simulating the response of Enceladus to tidal forcing, we demonstrate that only interior models with a liquid water layer at depth can explain the observed magnitude of dissipation rate and its particular location at the South Pole. Tidal dissipation in the ice shell is large enough to explain the observed heat power and can sustain a layer of liquid water at depth over geologic timescales. Spatial and temporal fluctuations of Enceladus' gravity field to be measured by future missions should confirm the presence of the liquid water zone and its depth below the surface.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Solid tidal friction above a liquid water reservoir as the origin of the South Pole Hotspot on Enceladus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Solid tidal friction above a liquid water reservoir as the origin of the South Pole Hotspot on Enceladus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Solid tidal friction above a liquid water reservoir as the origin of the South Pole Hotspot on Enceladus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1483776