DPS 2001 meeting, November 2001
Session 37. Galilean and Other Outer Planet Satellite Posters
Displayed, 9:00am Tuesday - 3:00pm Saturday, Highlighted, Friday, November 30, 2001, 9:00-10:30am, French Market Exhibit Hall

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[37.06] Elastic Thickness and Heat Flux Estimates on Ganymede

R. T. Pappalardo (LASP, U. Colorado), F. Nimmo (Ames), B. Giese (DLR)

We identify sites of apparent flexural uplift associated with grooved terrain formation and rifting on Ganymede using Galileo stereo-derived topography from the G28 orbit. The estimated effective elastic thickness Te is found to be 0.2-0.6 km for a nominal Young's modulus of 1 GPa. Using a viscoelastic model of the ice lithosphere we find that the ratio of Te to conductive lid thickness is < 0.5. The inferred local heat flux during the period of deformation is < 480 mW m-2, and probably close to 60 mW m-2. This value is an order of magnitude greater than the present-day radiogenic heat flux. Based on fault block topography, the stresses required to cause fault motion are estimated as ~1 MPa. Both the high heat flux and the high stresses are consistent with estimates of these quantities during an episode of transient tidal heating in Ganymede's past.


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