Seismic Detection of Euroquakes Originating From Europa's Silicate Interior

Marusiak, Angela G.; Panning, M. P.; Vance, S.; Nunn, Ceri; Stähler, Simon C.; Tharimena, S.

doi:10.1029/2021ea002041

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…The moment magnitude of the tidally driven deep moonquakes is typically less than 3 (Goins et al 1981;Kawamura et al 2017). Given that the maximal tidal stresses inside Europa are larger by an order of magnitude than those inside the Moon at the A1 epicenter, we can expect Europa quakes to have magnitudes in the same range, supporting the feasibility of a passive seismic experiment on the surface of Europa (Marusiak et al 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…Using icequakes to probe the rocky interior will be difficult because icequake-related signals would be strongly attenuated by the ice shell and the ocean layer before reaching the silicate interior and then again attenuated during the return trip before reaching a seismometer at Europa's surface (Panning et al 2006). In this work, we investigate another possible seismic source from Europa's interior: deep Europa quakes (or euroquakes; Marusiak et al 2022) triggered by tidal stress from Jupiter's tides. Although the existence of such tidal quakes in Earth's interior is still a subject of debate (e.g., Wilcock 2001;Tanaka et al 2004), tidal quakes have already been observed on the Moon by seismometers deployed by the Apollo missions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As Jupiter tides on Europa are stronger than Earth tides on the Moon, this raises the question of the likelihood of similar tidally driven deep seismic events in Europa. Previous investigations of seismicity in Europa's ice (e.g., Panning et al 2018;Marusiak et al 2022) showed that most reasonable models of seismicity yield events measurable by sensitive instruments analogous to the InSight SEIS seismometers. These previous investigations noted that deep interior events may be detected if they occur and would provide useful constraints on the interior structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Tidal Seismicity in the Moon and Implications for the Rocky Interior of Europa

Pou,

Panning,

Styczinski

et al. 2024

Planet. Sci. J.

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Seismology is a powerful tool for probing the deep interiors of planetary bodies. Just as deep moonquakes triggered by Earth’s tides occur on the Moon, as observed by the Apollo seismometers, icy moons of the giant planets may also have seismically active deep interiors, opening up future prospects for in situ seismic investigations at their surfaces. Of notable interest is Jupiter’s moon Europa, with its dynamic ice shell and potentially habitable subsurface ocean. In this work, we use different interior models of the Moon and model the tidal stress inside them to determine the most likely times and locations for the triggering of tidal moonquakes. Using the Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion, we derive cohesion and friction values for the lunar interior to match the observations of deep moonquakes by Apollo at a depth between 700 and 1200 km. By extending the same approach to different interior models of Europa, we show that Europa quakes triggered by the tides of Jupiter are 10 times more likely to occur than tidal moonquakes. The strength and depth of these tidal Europa quakes (euroquakes) strongly depend on the interior structure, with stronger events at the core–mantle boundary for liquid core models, while solid core models can be more prone to failure at the bottom of the ocean floor. Models without a metallic core favor failure in the upper third of the mantle with event strength similar to that in the solid core models.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%