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San Andreas Fault-like Tectonics discovered on Saturn moon Titan

diagram of saturn and titan
Titan’s eccentric orbit causes variations in gravitational tidal forces. (Photo credit: Burkhard,et al 2021)

Strike-slip faulting, the type of motion common to California’s well-known San Andreas Fault, was reported recently to possibly occur on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. New research, led by planetary scientists from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), suggests this tectonic motion may be active on Titan, deforming the icy surface.

On multiple ocean worlds, for example Jupiter’s Europa and Saturn’s Enceladus, expressions of strike-slip faulting are well documented...

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