Tectonic history of Europa: Coupling between internal evolution and surface stresses

Modeling Surface Stresses on Europa

Introduction: Modeling of the surface stresses on Europa has been performed to date, considering tidal, nonsynchronous, and polar wander sources of stress [3-6]. The results of such models can be used to match lineament orientation with the candidate stress patterns. Moreover, stratigraphic analysis can be used in combination with stress modeling to infer the evolution of Europa’s surface back ...

Coupling between internal and surface waves

In a fluid system in which two immiscible layers are separated by a sharp free interface, there can be strong coupling between large amplitude nonlinear waves on the interface and waves in the overlying free surface. We study the regime where long waves propagate in the interfacial mode, which are coupled to a modulational regime for the freesurface mode. This is a system of Boussinesq equation...

Tectonic Processes on Europa: Tidal Stresses, Mechanical Response, and Visible Features

Interplay of internal stresses, electric stresses, and surface diffusion in polymer films.

We investigate two destabilization mechanisms for elastic polymer films and put them into a general framework: first, instabilities due to in-plane stress and, second, due to an externally applied electric field normal to the film's free surface. As shown recently, polymer films are often stressed due to out-of-equilibrium fabrication processes such as, e.g., spin coating. Via an Asaro-Tiller-G...

Evidence for Europa-like tectonic resurfacing styles on Ganymede

[1] Very high-resolution imaging and stereo topographic data obtained during the Galileo G28 encounter with Ganymede show 1) evidence for Europa-like, crustal spreading and resurfacing to form portions of the bright terrain, and 2) bright terrain that appears smooth at Voyager resolution (and thus a strong candidate for cryovolcanism) but instead is tectonically deformed and lacks embayment rel...