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Lithospheric dilation on Europa has occurred at ridges, bands, and various hybrid lineaments on a global scale over a large part of the geological age of the surface. Dilational ridges (Class 2 in the R. Greenberg et al. (1998, Icarus135, 64-78) taxonomy) are elevated, are usually a few kilometers across, and may have a lineated or hummocky interior and a pronounced medial groove. Bands are lower...
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 is an 810-km strike-slip fault, located near the south pole of Europa. In length, it rivals the San Andreas Fault in California, and it is the largest strike-slip fault yet known on Europa. The fault was discovered using Voyager 2 images, based upon the presence of familiar strike-slip features including linearity, pull-aparts, and possible braids, and upon the offset of multiple...
Tidal torques on Europa due to Jupiter would tend to drive Europa's rotation to a rate slightly faster than synchronous, unless synchroneity is maintained by a permanent asymmetry in Europa's mass distribution. Moreover, global fracture patterns on Europa's surface, as well as the complex fine-scale tectonics revealed by Galileo high-resolution imagery, may be evidence of stress due to nonsynchronous...
Europa's orbital eccentricity, driven by the resonance with Io and Ganymede, results in “diurnal” tides (3.5-day period) and possibly in nonsynchronous rotation. Both diurnal variation and nonsynchronous rotation can create significant stress fields on Europa's surface, and both effects may produce cracking. Patterns and time sequences of apparent tectonic features on Europa include lineaments that...
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