Exploratour - Does Europa have an Ocean?
These "pull-apart" features on the surface of Europa resemble features shown here of the surface of the Earth. The diagram shows the ages of the ocean floor in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. The red sections are the youngest portions, where fresh new crust being brought forth from the deep interior of the Earth. The blue portions are the oldest regions and are near regions of the Earth where subduction is taking place.
It's clear that once the continent of Africa and the continent of America were one continent, which became broken and spread apart. The red regions on the map are associated with mid-ocean spreading ridges. These are areas of the Earth's crust where the ocean floor is being forced to spread apart so the new material can come out. The drawing shows the American continents being separated from the Eurasian and African continents. Thus, this map shows the evidence of seafloor spreading. To see these features better, click on the map and take a look at the larger version of the map which is not animated. Just as the features on the surface of the Earth can seem to be fitted together, the features on Europa on opposite sides of the "parallel linea" can seem to be fitted together.
Thus these features suggest the same process of "spreading" may be taking place on Europa. Notice that such a process only requires a warm, soft, and pliable sub-surface layer and not necesarily a sub-surface ocean.
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