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Planetary science

Plate tectonics on ice

Jupiter's icy moon Europa is criss-crossed by extensional features. A tectonic reconstruction suggests that Europa's extension is balanced by subduction — if so, Earth may not be the only planetary body with a plate tectonic system.

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Figure 1: Tectonic features on Europa, shown in false colour.

NASA

References

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Correspondence to Michelle M. Selvans.

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Selvans, M. Plate tectonics on ice. Nature Geosci 7, 695–696 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2256

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