Europa tectonic plates have recently been discovered by researchers and the study has appeared in a report on the Sept. 7 Sunday online edition of the journal "Nature Geoscience" on. With the discovery of Europa tectonic plates, it appears that Jupiter's "icy" moon is more interesting than scientists previously thought.
According to Fox News, Europa is considered the solar system's best bet in hosting alien life. Now with this new unearthing of Europa tectonic plates, that theory is proved even more so.
Science News reports that the findings on Europa tectonic plates are a mark of the first evidence of plate tectonics, a type of surface-shifting geological activity, in the universe other than Earth.
According to the study's lead author Simon Kattenhorn of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Europa is the first to be found with the patchwork of drifting tectonic plates, even if there had been research findings on surface reshaping, such as volcanic activity, on other planets like Saturn's moon Titan.
The new study on Europa tectonic plates suggests that big slabs of ice are sliding over and under each other within Europa's ice shell, reports Fox News.
Kattenhorn told Space.com, "From a purely science or geological perspective, this is incredible. Earth may not be alone. There may be another body out there that has plate tectonics. And not only that, it's ice!"
Apparently, the new results on Europa tectonic plates have been unearthed only less than a year after plumes of water vapor were also seen erupting from Europa's south polar zone. Biologists have reportedly become excited with that find since it meant a robotic probe can get a sample of the moon's subsurface ocean filled with liquid water without even touching its surface.
If combined, all findings on Europa could reportedly pave the way for future missions.
Kattenhorn said, "There have been a lot of recent exciting discoveries [about Europa]. All taken together, as NASA starts thinking about future missions, I'm hoping it will be pretty clear: This [Europa] is the obvious choice."
According to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology, the results on Europa tectonic plates was discovered by Kattenhorn and co-author Louise Prokter of Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland after they studied photos of Europa shot by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. Galileo reportedly made its orbit around Jupiter from 1995 until 2003.
Because of Galileo, researchers were able to gain clear visual evidence of Europa's icy crust expanding. However, they reportedly could not locate areas where old crust was destroyed which made room for the new.
Still, Fox News reports that the researchers were able to manipulate the images taken by Galileo to recreate the current geological history of a 52,000-square-mile-area - about the size of Alabama - of the moon.
Kattenhorn said, "It was very clear that you could reconstruct the original picture simply by moving plates around."
According to the researchers, the region changed over time. Some surface features have reportedly become unequal as compared to images captured earlier. In addition, there was a gap in the reconstructed image created by the researchers.
It was reportedly as if a large puzzle piece had fallen off the table, a chunk which was about the size of the state of Massachusetts, said Kattenhorn.
Kattenhorn said that it could be what really happened with Europa tectonic plates, in a sense.
He said, "In this case, the big chunk had actually moved down underneath the adjacent plate and was forever lost, recycled into the interior" of Europa's ice shell.
In the study on Europa tectonic plates, Kattenhorn and Prokter theorized that "subduction", where one plate slides under another, could be the reason for the lost chunk of the puzzle.
According to Fox News, the two researchers supported their theory with several lines of supporting evidence, which include potential "cryolavas" of water ice near the plate boundary.
Apparently, planetary science textbooks may need to be rewritten if this study on Europa tectonic plates is true.
Michelle Selvans, of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, wrote in an accompanying "News and Views" piece in the same issue of "Nature Geoscience", "Plate tectonics has been thought to be unique to our world."
What does this mean?
According to JPL, the plate tectonics theory poses the idea that Earth's outer layer is made up of plates or blocks that move. It explains why mountain and volcanoes form and earthquakes occur.
Many scientists believe that plate tectonics were necessary for the Earth rising, therefore many are also wondering if the recent discovery of Europa tectonic plates means the icy moon is habitable for simple lifeforms like our planet.
Kattenhorn said, "Europa may be more Earth-like than we imagined, if it has a global plate tectonic system."
He added, "Not only does this discovery make it one of the most geologically interesting bodies in the solar system, it also implies two-way communication between the exterior and interior -- a way to move material from the surface into the ocean -- a process which has significant implications for Europa's potential as a habitable world.
It appears NASA is way ahead as even before the discovery of Europa tectonic plates. In July, the agency reportedly issued an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for proposals for science instruments that could be carried aboard a future mission to Europa.
Curt Niebur, a program scientist for Outer Planets at NASA Headquarters in Washington said, "Europa continues to reveal itself as a dynamic world with compelling similarities to our own planet Earth."
Niebur added, "Studying Europa addresses fundamental questions about this potentially habitable icy moon and the search for life beyond Earth."
Europa tectonic plates was discovered through images captured by NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which was launched in 1989. According to JPL, it was the only space mission to make repeated visits to Europa, which reportedly passed by the icy moon about a dozen times.
More information and images about Europa can be found here.
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