Pwyll and Manann\'an Craters as a Laboratory for Constraining Irradiation Timescales on Europa

TL;DR

This study uses high-resolution spectral data of Europa's Pwyll and Manannán craters to estimate irradiation timescales, revealing insights into the sulfur cycle and salt reddening processes on Europa's surface.

Contribution

It provides new constraints on irradiation timescales for Europa's surface features by analyzing spectral composition and surface alteration of specific craters.

Findings

Depletion of hydrated sulfuric acid indicates short irradiation timescales.

Presence of hydrated salts suggests endogenic material and rapid surface alteration.

Crater ages are constrained by sulfur cycle equilibrium and salt reddening evidence.

Abstract

We examine high spatial resolution Galileo/NIMS observations of the young (~1 My - 20 My) impact features, Pwyll and Manann\'{a}n craters, on Europa's trailing hemisphere in an effort to constrain irradiation timescales. We characterize their composition using a linear spectral modeling analysis and find that both craters and their ejecta are depleted in hydrated sulfuric acid relative to nearby older terrain. This suggests that the radiolytic sulfur cycle has not yet had enough time to build up an equilibrium concentration of H2SO4, and places a strong lower limit of the age of the craters on the equilibrium timescale of the radiolytic sulfur cycle on Europa's trailing hemisphere. Additionally, we find that the dark and red material seen in the craters and proximal ejecta of Pwyll and Manann\'{a}n show the spectroscopic signature of hydrated, presumably endogenic salts. This suggests that the irradiation-induced darkening and redenning of endogenic salts thought to occur on Europa's trailing hemisphere has already happened at Pwyll and Manann\'{a}n, thereby placing an upper limit on the timescale by which salts are irradiation reddened.