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Plate Tectonics on Europa; could make life possible
Topic Started: Sep 10 2014, 09:00:15 PM (419 Views)
The Chronicler
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Bionicle fan of GoF
http://www.space.com/27059-jupiter-moon-eu...-tectonics.html

According to a recent analysis of images taken by the Galileo space probe from over ten years ago, it's possible that Jupiter's icy moon Europa may have plate tectonics, which would make it the first known world besides Earth to have such a system.

Since these "plates" would be made of ice instead of rock, it would work a little differently than what we're familiar with on Earth, but the process is basically the same. Plates that diverge create space for new material to rise up (which has already been determined for a while now), and where plates converge, one slips underneath the other and the old material is recycled into the interior (which is what the recent analysis was able to determine). This could explain why the surface of Europa is relatively young.

This also might have an impact on the possibility of life on Europa. These plates likely don't extend through the entire thickness of the solid crust, but it could gradually help to bring nutrients and other material from the surface down to the ocean of liquid water underneath.

I find this to be quite a fascinating discovery. :)
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rhombus
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The Friendly Parallelogram

Wow, this is the first that I have heard of this. This certainly does affect the possibility of life on Europa. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. :)
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vonboy
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The IT team was fired... Fire Grilled
Wow.

Could this bring up the possibility of two different kinds of life on Europa? I mean, life on the frozen surface, and different life that's adapted to the warmer water in the mantle?

Very interesting, indeed. Now I really want NASA to send a probe there to find out!
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Kor
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That is interesting news. And if Europa does have life it may be similar, or maybe completely different from life on Earth.
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jansenov
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Ducky's sub-par imitator
I always thought the young ice on Europe was a consequence of high-pressure outbursts of material (in this case water) through an otherwise inert crust, a mechanism that dominates on Venus. But now it would appear it is a consequence ofplate tectonics, a mechanism that dominates on Earth.


vonboy, Sep 11 2014
05:12 AM
Could this bring up the possibility of two different kinds of life on Europa? I mean, life on the frozen surface, and different life that's adapted to the warmer water in the mantle?


The surface of Europa is an environment very inimical to life. The Europan atmosphere has a significant percentage of free oxygen atoms, which are highly reactive and would bind very quickly with any complex molecules they run across. There is also the highly ionizing radiation from Jupiter, which would ionize the complex molecules themselves, also changing their structure. However, ice is very good protection against these influences, and already a mere 10 meters under the surface any trapped life form will be completely shielded and its fossils would remain as long the ice exists. Actually, these fossils would be preserved in a far better state than fossils on Earth, because they would not be exposed to high temperatures and rock. We could find out everything we need about their chemistry.

And since there is young ice everywhere due to plate tectonics, these fossils will be found everywhere on Europa. You just need a hardened impactor that would hit the surface at a certain speed, stopping itself under 10 meters of ice, and conduct the analysis. This mission is sufficiently simple that even space agencies with meagre budgets should be able to carry it out.
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