Space Sciences
And Tethys may once have had an ocean of liquid water
Posted by Socrates II on 3/14/2008 8:48:16 PM
In Reply to: Enceladus has some astonishingly high and steep escarpments. posted by Jacob on 3/14/2008 2:15:53 PM
Saturn moon ‘once had ocean’

By Paul Rincon

Science reporter, BBC News, Houston

The Ithaca Chasma is thought to be a very old structure

One of Saturn’s moons may once have harboured a liquid ocean beneath its icy surface, scientists have told a major conference in Houston, Texas.

Tethys is a mid-sized satellite with a density close to that of pure ice.

But a large valley system visible today must have formed when the crust was being heated and under great strain.

The team thinks that tidal heating, followed by cooling which froze Tethys’ ocean, could have formed the giant Ithaca Chasma rift.

Details were presented here at the 39th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

Full article here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7297408.stm
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