Thermal-Compositional Evolution of Europa’s Interior and Ocean Since Accretion
2019
Europa’s compositional evolution is not well constrained. Observations only provide approximations of the current interior structure of Europa. However, dynamic models [Hussmann & Spohn 2004] resolve the magnitude of interior heating produced by tidal interaction over time. We couple the heat production to thermodynamic and chemical equilibrium models Perple_X [Connolly 2005], Rcrust [Mayne+ 2016] and CHIM-XPT [Reed 1998] to compute compositional changes of the interior and ocean. Assuming that Europa's interior is not molten now, a Fe core could have accommodated up to 24 wt % S during accretion, assuming chondritic accretion material. However, a metal-silicate segregated magma ocean was needed to allow such high S content in the core. More likely, accretion proceeded with low impact rates that allowed heat dissipation. Based on this and experimental metal-silicate partition behavior, Europa’s core contains ~1 wt % S. Two mantle melting events were calculated corresponding to putative events in Europa’s ...
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