Enceladus' extreme heat flux as revealed by its relaxed craters
@article{Bland2012EnceladusEH, title={Enceladus' extreme heat flux as revealed by its relaxed craters}, author={Michael T. Bland and Kelsi N. Singer and William B. McKinnon and Paul M. Schenk}, journal={Geophysical Research Letters}, year={2012}, volume={39} }
Enceladus' cratered terrains contain large numbers of unusually shallow craters consistent with deformation by viscous relaxation of water ice under conditions of elevated heat flow. Here we use high‐resolution topography to measure the relaxation fraction of craters on Enceladus far from the active South Pole. We find that many craters are shallower than expected, with craters as small as 2 km in diameter having relaxation fractions in excess of 90%. These measurements are compared with…
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