The ‘tiger stripes’ on Enceladus may give clues to its habitability.
A team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has published a new study on the geology of Enceladus, Saturn’s icy moon, which could help determine whether that celestial body there is life
The ‘tiger stripes‘and the habitability of the moon
An underground global ocean has been discovered on Enceladus that periodically erupts jets of ice crystals and gas columns over its south pole. Those eruptions come from four fractures, called ‘tiger stripes‘, which are observed on the surface of the moon. The researchers determined that the variations in the brightness of the jets were synchronized with a supposed side-by-side sliding motion of these faults.
The study, led by doctoral student Alexander Berne, uses a detailed geophysical model to characterize the movement of these faults. Understanding these geophysical processes that control jet activity and other factors is crucial to eventually obtain a detailed picture of Enceladus’ potential habitability.
“For life to evolve, habitable conditions have to be suitable for a long time, not just a moment,” says geophysics professor and co-author of the research, Mark Simons. “A long-lived ocean is needed on Enceladus. “Geophysical and geological observations can provide key constraints on the dynamics of the core and crust, as well as the extent to which these processes have been active over time.”
Similar to the San Andreas Fault
The study suggests that Enceladus’ ‘tiger stripes’ open up differently than previously thought, and the researchers determined that the movement of the cracks is similar to the side-to-side sliding movement of the San Andreas Fault in California (USA). The results of this research were published on Monday in Nature.
The researchers theorize that the individual jets occur at “gaps” on the faults: folded sections of the fault that open up under regional strike-slip motion. “Now it seems that we have both geological and geophysical reasons to suspect that jet activity occurs in the separation zones along Enceladus’ tiger stripes,” explains Berne.
“Detailed measurements of movement along the tiger’s stripes are needed to confirm the hypotheses put forward in our work,” says Berne. “For example, We now have the ability to image fault slipssuch as earthquakes, on Earth using radar measurements from satellites in orbit,” he adds.
“The application of these methods on Enceladus should allow us to better understand the transport of material from the ocean to the surfacethe thickness of the ice crust and the long-term conditions that may allow life to form and evolve on Enceladus,” Berne emphasizes.
