Patterns of fracture and tidal stresses on Europa |
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| Authors: | Paul Helfenstein EM Parmentier |
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| Institution: | Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA |
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| Abstract: | the hypothesis that lineaments on Europa are fractures produced by tidal distortion and planetary volume change is examined by comparing the orientations of dark bands, triple bands, and cuspate ridges to fracture patterns predicted for tidal distortion due to orbital recession and orbital eccentricity. If short, reticulate dark band nnear the anti-Jove point are tension cracks which formed in response to tidal distortion, they could only have been produced by orbital eccentricity. Long, arcuate dark band and triple bands peripheral to the anti-Jove point orientations which suggest that they are strike-slip faults which formed in response to orbital recession. If cuspate ridges are compressional features, their orientations and distribution suggest that they formed in response to combined orbital recession and a decrease in planetary volume. Stresses due to orbital eccentricit could have produced tension cracks near the anti-Jove point only if tensile failure occurred either prior to the accumulation of orbital recession stresses or after they had relaxed. Surface fracturing, if a consequence of tidal deformation, places important constraints on the orbital evolution of Europa. |
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| Keywords: | To whom all correspondence should be address |
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