Abstract
Diurnal tides due to orbital eccentricity may drive strike-slip motion on Europa through a process of "walking" in which faults open and close out of phase with alternate right- and left-lateral shear. Mapping of five different regions on Europa has revealed 121 strike-slip faults, including Astypalaea Linea, a 800-km-long fault with 42 km of right-lateral offset. At high southern latitudes near Astypalaea Linea all of the strike slip faults identified were right-lateral. Europa appears to preferentially form right-lateral faults in the southern hemisphere and left-lateral faults in the northern hemisphere, consistent with tidal walking. At the five locations, nonsynchronous rotation explains the azimuthal orientations and distribution of sense of shear, which fit formation ∼60° to 90° west of their current positions. Alternatively, stress due to differential rotation might also explain the observed shear patterns. Nearly all identified strike-slip faults were associated with double ridges or bands, but few were detected along ridgeless cracks (even older ones). Thus, cracks without ridges may not have penetrated to a decoupling layer, consistent with the models for ridge formation that require cracks to penetrate to a liquid water ocean.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 287-298 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Icarus |
| Volume | 141 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1999 |
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Keywords
- Europa
- Satellites of Jupiter
- Tectonics
- Tides
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Space and Planetary Science
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
Cite this
Strike-slip faults on Europa : Global shear patterns driven by tidal stress. / Hoppa, Gregory; Tufts, B. Randall; Greenberg, Richard J.; Geissler, Paul.
In: Icarus, Vol. 141, No. 2, 10.1999, p. 287-298.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Strike-slip faults on Europa
T2 - Global shear patterns driven by tidal stress
AU - Hoppa, Gregory
AU - Tufts, B. Randall
AU - Greenberg, Richard J.
AU - Geissler, Paul
PY - 1999/10
Y1 - 1999/10
N2 - Diurnal tides due to orbital eccentricity may drive strike-slip motion on Europa through a process of "walking" in which faults open and close out of phase with alternate right- and left-lateral shear. Mapping of five different regions on Europa has revealed 121 strike-slip faults, including Astypalaea Linea, a 800-km-long fault with 42 km of right-lateral offset. At high southern latitudes near Astypalaea Linea all of the strike slip faults identified were right-lateral. Europa appears to preferentially form right-lateral faults in the southern hemisphere and left-lateral faults in the northern hemisphere, consistent with tidal walking. At the five locations, nonsynchronous rotation explains the azimuthal orientations and distribution of sense of shear, which fit formation ∼60° to 90° west of their current positions. Alternatively, stress due to differential rotation might also explain the observed shear patterns. Nearly all identified strike-slip faults were associated with double ridges or bands, but few were detected along ridgeless cracks (even older ones). Thus, cracks without ridges may not have penetrated to a decoupling layer, consistent with the models for ridge formation that require cracks to penetrate to a liquid water ocean.
AB - Diurnal tides due to orbital eccentricity may drive strike-slip motion on Europa through a process of "walking" in which faults open and close out of phase with alternate right- and left-lateral shear. Mapping of five different regions on Europa has revealed 121 strike-slip faults, including Astypalaea Linea, a 800-km-long fault with 42 km of right-lateral offset. At high southern latitudes near Astypalaea Linea all of the strike slip faults identified were right-lateral. Europa appears to preferentially form right-lateral faults in the southern hemisphere and left-lateral faults in the northern hemisphere, consistent with tidal walking. At the five locations, nonsynchronous rotation explains the azimuthal orientations and distribution of sense of shear, which fit formation ∼60° to 90° west of their current positions. Alternatively, stress due to differential rotation might also explain the observed shear patterns. Nearly all identified strike-slip faults were associated with double ridges or bands, but few were detected along ridgeless cracks (even older ones). Thus, cracks without ridges may not have penetrated to a decoupling layer, consistent with the models for ridge formation that require cracks to penetrate to a liquid water ocean.
KW - Europa
KW - Satellites of Jupiter
KW - Tectonics
KW - Tides
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033210467&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0033210467&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1006/icar.1999.6185
DO - 10.1006/icar.1999.6185
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0033210467
VL - 141
SP - 287
EP - 298
JO - Icarus
JF - Icarus
SN - 0019-1035
IS - 2
ER -