Planetary science: Tectonic overturn on Enceladus

Helfenstein, Paul

United States

Abstract

The south pole of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus is anomalously warm, geologically youthful and cryovolcanically active. Episodic convective overturn explains how the moon's modest sources of internal heat can be channelled into intense geological activity.

2010 Nature Geoscience
Cassini 10