Europa's petrological thermal history

A path of geophysical development which takes into account the petrological sequence is presented to describe the thermal evolution of Europa. On the basis of considerations of the likely temperature-pressure conditions in the Europa zone of the circumjovian nebula during the condensation of the satellite on the one hand and of the early thermal evolution on the other, it is argued that most of the water of Europa can be in the form of hydrated silicates in a thick convective boundary layer or throughout the body of the satellite. Such silicates would include the minerals chlorite and/or serpentine, and brucite, and could be maintained in hydrated states by solid state convection within the body. The model predicts that the ice layer on the surface of Europa is considerably thinner than the 150 km that had been estimated before the Voyager mission.