Plate tectonics spotted on Europa

Shifting landscape on Jupiter’s frozen moon is first outside Earth

image of Jupiter’s frosty moon Europa

FROZEN WORLD  Drifting ice slabs periodically refresh the surface of Jupiter’s frosty moon Europa. The frigid world is the first spot outside Earth where scientists have discovered active plate tectonics.

Ted Stryk/Galileo Project/JPL/NASA

Plate tectonics churns the icy exterior of Jupiter’s moon Europa, researchers report September 7 in Nature Geoscience.