Publication Date
2026
College
College of Natural Resources & Sciences
Department
Geology
Document Type
Poster
Description
Of the Galilean moons circling Jupiter, Europa is the second closest and the smallest. It has attracted some interest from the scientific community, due to its subsurface ocean which is one of the most likely places to find life in our solar system, and its geologically young surface of ~100Myr. We use stratigraphic relationships as a means to understand the evolution of Europa’s ice shell surface over time. Tectonic motion drives changes in surface morphologies, divergence of the plate creates dilational features like bands and ridges, and convergence may cause subduction-like processes. We use ArcGIS to map and categorize surface features on Europa. We are able to place features in time steps and assign them morphologies that help understand spatial and temporal changes in stress state.