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Nimmo & Manga 2002
Nimmo, F. and Manga, M. (2002). Causes, characteristics and consequences of convective diapirism on Europa. Geophysical Research Letters 29: doi: 10.1029/2002GL015754. issn: 0094-8276.

We investigate the hypothesis that the ~10 km diameter dome-shaped features seen on Europa's surface are caused by strongly temperature-dependent convection, in which upwellings form isolated diapirs or thermals. We use the observed lower limit on dome diameter of 4 km to deduce that the conductive (stagnant) lid thickness must be ≤5 km. Such a lid thickness implies a minimum surface heat flux of 90 mWm-2, compatible with recent estimates of tidal heating. We also use the mean observed dome diameter to infer a lower thermal boundary layer thickness of ~1 km. We find that the ice is probably deforming in the diffusion creep regime with a grain size in the range 0.02--0.06 mm. The fraction of internal heating is >0.5, the ice viscosity 1012--1013 Pa s, and the crustal solidification rate<5km/Ma.

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Abstract

Keywords
Planetology, Solar System Objects, Jovian satellites, Planetary Sciences, Interiors, Planetary Sciences, Heat flow, Planetary Sciences, Origin and evolution
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
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