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Jupiter moon Europa may have tectonic plates similar to Earth: scientists
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/07/jupiter-moon-europa-may-have-tectonic-plates-similar-to-earth-scientists/
Jupiter moon Europa may have tectonic plates similar to Earth: scientists
By Agence France-Presse
Sunday, September 7, 2014 19:32 EDT
Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may have active tectonic plates similar to those that shape the Earth, which had long been thought unique in this respect, scientists said Sunday.
They used images captured by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter and its moons from 1995 to 2003, to study the criss-cross of ridges and fractures on Europa’s ice shell.
The moon, slightly smaller than the one orbiting Earth, has one of the youngest surfaces in the Solar System, implying “rapid recycling”, said the team.
They found evidence that a piece of the surface had disappeared along a boundary between two ice plates, possibly when one sunk under the other.
