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The
Conamara Chaos
The
following image is a view of a small region of the thin, disrupted
ice crust in the Conamara region of Jupiter's moon Europa showing
the interplay of surface colors with ice structures. The white and
blue colors outline areas that have been blanketed by a fine dust
of ice particles ejected at the time of formation of the large,
26 kilometer (16 mile) in diameter crater Pwyll some 1000 kilometers
(621 miles) to the south. The unblanketed surface has a reddish
brown color that has been painted by mineral contaminants carried
and spread by water vapor released from below the crust when it
was disrupted. The original color of the icy surface was probably
a deep blue color seen in large areas elsewhere on the moon. The
image covers an area approximately 70 by 30 kilometers (44 by 19
miles).
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