@article{9d1287626e4d4992a23e201226723ed3,
title = "Brine Migration and Impact-Induced Cryovolcanism on Europa",
abstract = "Despite evidence for plumes on Jupiter's moon Europa, no surface features have been definitively identified as the source of the plumes to date. Furthermore, it remains unknown whether the activity originates from near-surface water reservoirs within the ice shell or if it is sourced from the underlying global ocean. Here we investigate brine pocket migration, studied previously in the context of sea ice on Earth, as a process for transporting brine along thermal gradients. We show that the fracture system located in the center of Europa's Manann{\'a}n crater is consistent with the formation of a subsurface brine reservoir. After the initial impact, residual aqueous melt concentrated via brine pocket migration as the target material cooled. Freezing and overpressurization then resulted in a cryovolcanic eruption. The volume of the emptied reservoir and the critical composition at the end of migration provide further constraints on the average salinity of Europa's ice shell.",
keywords = "Europa, cryovolcanism, habitability, impacts, melt mobilization, salinity",
author = "G. Steinbr{\"u}gge and Voigt, {J. R.C.} and Wolfenbarger, {N. S.} and Hamilton, {C. W.} and Soderlund, {K. M.} and Young, {D. A.} and Blankenship, {D. D.} and Vance, {S. D.} and Schroeder, {D. M.}",
note = "Funding Information: We thank Bernd Giese for providing the digital terrain model of Manann{\'a}n crater as well as Marc Hesse for his helpful discussions. We thank Tilman Spohn and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments that improved this manuscript. This work was supported by the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation. This is UTIG contribution 3678. A portion of this work was carried out by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. Funding Information: We thank Bernd Giese for providing the digital terrain model of Manann{\'a}n crater as well as Marc Hesse for his helpful discussions. We thank Tilman Spohn and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments that improved this manuscript. This work was supported by the G. Unger Vetlesen Foundation. This is UTIG contribution 3678. A portion of this work was carried out by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright}2020. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.",
year = "2020",
month = nov,
day = "16",
doi = "10.1029/2020GL090797",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "47",
journal = "Geophysical Research Letters",
issn = "0094-8276",
publisher = "American Geophysical Union",
number = "21",
}