Europa smooth plains formation: a SPH cryovolcanic model
Abstract
Cryovolcanism is a fundamental geodynamical process that has been observed on several icy moons. Europa stands out as a primary target for investigating potential cryovolcanic activity and its role in shaping icy moon surfaces. This work characterizes the physical state of ascending cryomagma and evaluates the relevance of terrestrial analogues to explain Europa's surface features. After investigating cryomagma depressurization, we developed CryoPy, a numerical model based on Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) for computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer. We simulated flow propagation and surface cooling using this model. Our simulations show that snow is a relevant physical analogue for cryolava, as the resulting flows closely match the smooth plains observed by Galileo in both extent and morphology. Additionally, we established the temporal thermal signatures of these events. Such active cryovolcanic events are within the detection limits of, primarily, the E-THEMIS infrared imager, providing a predictive framework for the Europa Clipper mission.
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BibTeX
@misc{bodin2026europa,
title = {{Europa smooth plains formation: a SPH cryovolcanic model}},
author = {Bastien Bodin and Daniel Cordier and Ashley Gerard Davies},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.27562},
eprint = {2609.27562},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.27562},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Europa smooth plains formation: a SPH cryovolcanic model
AU - Bastien Bodin
AU - Daniel Cordier
AU - Ashley Gerard Davies
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.27562
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.27562
AB - Cryovolcanism is a fundamental geodynamical process that has been observed on several icy moons. Europa stands out as a primary target for investigating potential cryovolcanic activity and its role in shaping icy moon surfaces. This work characterizes the physical state of ascending cryomagma and evaluates the relevance of terrestrial analogues to explain Europa's surface features. After investigating cryomagma depressurization, we developed CryoPy, a numerical model based on Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) for computational fluid dynamics and heat transfer. We simulated flow propagation and surface cooling using this model. Our simulations show that snow is a relevant physical analogue for cryolava, as the resulting flows closely match the smooth plains observed by Galileo in both extent and morphology. Additionally, we established the temporal thermal signatures of these events. Such active cryovolcanic events are within the detection limits of, primarily, the E-THEMIS infrared imager, providing a predictive framework for the Europa Clipper mission.
ER -