Saturday 28 August 2010

natural satellites - Are moons geologically active?

Yes. Moons around Jupiter (Io, Europa and Ganymede), Saturn (Titan and Enceladus) and Neptune (Triton) all have some form of geological activity. Charon also may have geological activity, being in a binary system with Pluto. However, while Earth's geological activity is caused by internal heating and teutonic plates, the geological activity of the moons around Jovian planets comes in the form of tidal forces. Io is the most iconic instance of tidal stress, because Io's plumes are frequent, volatile and make the world look extremely chaotic, with its surface frequently being altered and renewed by its non stop volcanic activity. (Because it is chaotic)



As for tectonic plates, Europa is the closest you get to teutonic plates with moons in our star system. Water replaces lava when it comes to ice worlds. Ice worlds being worlds that have ice instead of rock for their crust. This means that water mantles are a frequent occurrence, with the core of ice worlds being mineral rich stone. This is the case for Triton as well, which has cyro-vulcanism from the sheer tidal stress neptune exerts on the captured dwarf planet.



Enceladus and Titan have water mantles, Enceladus being the world notable for its massive plumes, extreme reflectiveness and tiger stripe surface fractures. Titan may also have teutonic activity for similar reasons to Europa.

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