On Titan, Volcanoes Spew Ice, Not Lava

Volcanoes spew up ice, not lava
From correspondents in London
July 11, 2005
From:

On Thursday, NASA's Cassini probe will pass just 175km from Enceladus, a 500km-wide chunk of rock and ice with surface temperatures that hover around -180C.
The new phase of exploration of Saturn comes as findings emerge from earlier stages of Cassini's voyage.

Researchers believe they have identified oxygen in at least one of Saturn's rings, while an analysis of the surface of Titan, another of the planet's moons, has found gravel made of chipped ice and huge volcanoes spewing ice and frozen gases.

The new pictures of Enceladus are likely to be among the most spectacular yet. At the temperatures on its surface, water should be so deep frozen that it is as hard as rock, but researchers have realised that liquids may be able to flow on it.

"The imaging we already have shows that the surface is active. The craters from meteor impacts are being removed. It is as if a liquid is regularly flowing over the surface," said Philip Nicholson of Cornell University, a lead scientist on the mission...cont'd

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15884369-13762,00.html