Published May 1987
| public
Journal Article
Subsidence of Topography on Io
- Creators
- Webb, Erik K.
-
Stevenson, David J.
Abstract
Topographic features on Io tend to subside because their underlying roots are softened and eroded by contact with hot mantle. This can be offset by crustal thickening, due primarily to ongoing volcanism, but observations suggest that this is ≲1 cm year^(−1) at current topographic highs. Since crustal thinning occurs at ∼50 cm year^(−1) if the underlying material is a pure magma ocean, we conclude that Io has no global magma ocean. Viscosities in excess of ∼10^(10) P are implied for Io's interior.
Additional Information
© 1987 Academic Press, Inc. Received October 29, 1986; revised January 28, 1987. We are grateful to Torrence Johnson for his review and helpful comments on resurfacing. The first author acknowledges support of NASA's Planetary Geology Undergraduate Research Program. Partial support was also supplied by NASA Grant NAGW-185.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 42439
- DOI
- 10.1016/0019-1035(87)90140-0
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20131113-152707499
- NASA Undergraduate Student Research Program
- NAGW-185
- NASA
- Created
-
2013-11-13Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences