Abstract
Observational data from the Galileo Orbiter's remote-sensing instruments,
including solid-state imaging (SSI), the Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer
(NIMS), and the ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS), are analyzed and
interpreted in terms of the history of the Tyre and Pwyll impact
sites and the nature of Europa's crustal zonal structure. Material
characterized by asymmetric 1.4 and 2.0 mu m bands and visible coloration
characterizes each site where morphologic evidence suggests disruption
of the topmost crust, The material is not H2O ice, is endogenic,
and is common to the linea, impact basins, and dark trailing side
terrain. Differences between Tyre and Pwyll are interpreted in terms
of Europa's peculiar energy history, while other evidence may suggest
flooding of the endogenic material as a liquid. The pure ice appearance
of most of Europa's crust is probably superficial, while beneath
a thin patina of sputtered H2O molecules the crust is everywhere
laced with numerous generations of intrusions and extrusions of an
aqueous phase. Our results, together with numerous laboratory experiments
and theoretical analysis, suggest that the aqueous phase is dominated
by the SO4= anion.
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