Conamara Chaos

Coordinates: 9°42′N 87°18′E / 9.7°N 87.3°E / 9.7; 87.3[1]

"Ice rafts" in Conamara Chaos
Enhanced-color regional view of Conamara Chaos, showing its location south of the intersection of two large "tripleband" lineae. White areas are ejecta rays from the large (26-km diameter) crater Pwyll 1000 km to the south

Conamara Chaos is a region of chaotic terrain on Jupiter's moon Europa. It is named after Connemara (Irish: Conamara) in Ireland due to its similarly rugged landscape.[2]

Conamara Chaos is a landscape produced by the disruption of the icy crust of Europa. The region consists of rafts of ice that have moved around and rotated. Surrounding these plates is a lower matrix of jumbled ice blocks which may have been formed as water, slush, or warm ice rose up from below the surface. The region is cited as evidence for a liquid ocean below Europa's icy surface.

References

  1. "Conamara Chaos". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
  2. Pappalardo, Robert (2009). Europa. University of Arizona Press. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-8165-2844-8.

External links

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