The probe Juno NASA discovered a steep mountain and a glass-smooth lake of solidified lava on the surface of the volcanic moon I of Jupiter: from the data of the latest close flybys of the Jovian natural satellite, NASA has created 3D animations truly suggestive, which shed new light on two of the most peculiar characteristics of Io, namely the very steep mountain renamed Steeple Mountain (“spire mountain”) and the Loki Pateraa lake of solidified lava smooth as glass.
The discoveries, announced at European Geophysical Union General Assembly of Vienna, were obtained through two overflights carried out in December 2023 it’s at February 2024when the probe “grazed” the surface of Jupiter’s moon alone 1500 km away. It’s about the first close-up images of the northern latitudes of Io ever obtained.
Io is often referred to as a hell moon since it is the most volcanically active world of the Solar System, characterized by hundreds of volcanoes and continuous lava eruptions. The moon owes its volcanism to tidal effects that the planet Jupiter exerts on it. As Io moves along his eccentric orbitJupiter’s gravitational force compresses and expands continuously the entire moon, thus giving rise to its characteristic powerful volcanic eruptions.
The 3D animation of Loki Patera, a volcanic lake made of obsidian glass
One of the first reconstructions carried out by scientists, visible below, is that of a lava lake smooth as glass known as Loki Patera. It’s about the volcanic depression largest found so far on Io, with a length of ben 202km and the presence of different islands in the middle. The probe data showed how the surface of the lava is particularly reflectivewhich has led scientists to hypothesize that some parts of Io’s surface are smooth as glass, reminiscent of obsidian glass created by volcanoes on Earth.
Volcanic depressions like the ones in the video above are called pateraea term of Latin origin which is used in exogeology to indicate fextra-terrestrial geological formations similar to irregular craters. The paterae resemble the calderas terrestrial volcanic volcanoes, although the formation mechanism is probably different, is still under study. Loki it is instead the name of the volcano itself, the most intense of the Jovian moon, capable of contributing alone to the 25% of its global heat output.
Volcanic eruptions on Io are generated by intense tidal forces that Jupiter exerts on the moon and flow on the moon’s surface for hundreds of km. The byproduct of this volcanic activity, namely sulphur, sulfur dioxide and pyroclastic material, is shot into space creating umbrella-shaped gas clouds.
The video with 3D images of the Steeple Mountain
There second reconstruction carried out by scientists of the Juno mission is that of Steeple Mountain (“Spire Mountain”), one of the very steep mountains that characterize the surface of Io. The video below shows the reconstruction carried out with the data obtained from JunoCam imagerthe probe’s high-resolution camera, during the two close flybys of December 2023 and February 2024.
There Steeple Mountain it’s just one of about a hundred mountains on its surface of Io, the highest of which of ben 17.5 km highpractically twice Mount Everest! The mountains on Io are not of volcanic origin, but tectonics. They are in fact generated by compression of two blocks of the lithosphere (crust and outer mantle), which lift and tilt pieces of Io’s crust. This compression leads to the formation of mountains characterized by very steep slopesjust like those visible in the Juno probe video.
