Europa, an icy Jovian moon that likely possesses an ocean beneath its icy crust, may have an interior that is hot enough to produce volcanic activity on its seafloor. New research provides evidence that this seafloor volcanism likely occurred in the moon\u2019s past and maybe ongoing at present as well.<\/p>\n
The team of researchers, led by Dr. Marie B\u011bhounkov\u00e1 of Charles University in the Czech Republic, developed their own 3D models of Europa\u2019s interior and heating transfer properties to investigate the possibility of volcanism on Europa\u2019s ocean floor given other volcanism seen in the Jovian system.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Scientists have proposed the idea of a subsurface ocean under Europa\u2019s crust for years, and have strong evidence from multiple missions to support the theory. B\u011bhounkov\u00e1 et al.\u2019s new research provides evidence to the idea that that seafloor could be volcanically active.<\/p>\n
These volcanoes would form due to the melting of Europa\u2019s interior and heat transfer from the rocky interior of Europa to the seafloor. Models developed by Be\u030chounkov\u00e1 et al. show that many different factors \u2014 including radiogenic power and tidal forces \u2014 contribute to the melting of the icy moon\u2019s interior.<\/p>\n
But why this type of research regarding Europa?<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Jovian system, it is known that there is huge activity on the moon Io, so we wanted to explore if it\u2019s a possibility that there is something similar, although, to a lesser extent, going on on Europa,\u201d said Dr. B\u011bhounkov\u00e1 in an interview with NASASpaceflight.<\/p>\n
The paper, \u201cTidally Induced Magmatic Pulses on the Oceanic Floor of Jupiter\u2019s Moon Europa\u201d was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters <\/em>the can be found here.<\/p>\n Aerospace & Defense (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n However, the extent of volcanism depends on how much melting is occurring and how heat is transferred to the seafloor.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n