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Habitability of Enceladus: Planetary Conditions for Life

Overview of attention for article published in Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, June 2008
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Title
Habitability of Enceladus: Planetary Conditions for Life
Published in
Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres, June 2008
DOI 10.1007/s11084-008-9135-4
Pubmed ID
Authors

Christopher D. Parkinson, Mao-Chang Liang, Yuk L. Yung, Joseph L. Kirschivnk

Abstract

The prolific activity and presence of a plume on Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus offers us a unique opportunity to sample the interior composition of an icy satellite, and to look for interesting chemistry and possible signs of life. Based on studies of the potential habitability of Jupiter's moon Europa, icy satellite oceans can be habitable if they are chemically mixed with the overlying ice shell on Myr time scales. We hypothesize that Enceladus' plume, tectonic processes, and possible liquid water ocean may create a complete and sustainable geochemical cycle that may allow it to support life. We discuss evidence for surface/ocean material exchange on Enceladus based on the amounts of silicate dust material present in the Enceladus' plume particles. Microphysical cloud modeling of Enceladus' plume shows that the particles originate from a region of Enceladus' near surface where the temperature exceeds 190 K. This could be consistent with a shear-heating origin of Enceladus' tiger stripes, which would indicate extremely high temperatures ( approximately 250-273 K) in the subsurface shear fault zone, leading to the generation of subsurface liquid water, chemical equilibration between surface and subsurface ices, and crustal recycling on a time scale of 1 to 5 Myr. Alternatively, if the tiger stripes form in a mid-ocean-ridge-type mechanism, a half-spreading rate of 1 m/year is consistent with the observed regional heat flux of 250 mW m(-2) and recycling of south polar terrain crust on a 1 to 5 Myr time scale as well.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 140 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
United States 5 4%
Canada 2 1%
Finland 1 <1%
Germany 1 <1%
Singapore 1 <1%
Brazil 1 <1%
Unknown 129 92%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 38 27%
Student > Bachelor 21 15%
Researcher 20 14%
Student > Master 16 11%
Student > Doctoral Student 8 6%
Other 21 15%
Unknown 16 11%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Earth and Planetary Sciences 46 33%
Physics and Astronomy 24 17%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 19 14%
Chemistry 9 6%
Engineering 6 4%
Other 17 12%
Unknown 19 14%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 September 2023.
All research outputs
#7,942,395
of 23,906,448 outputs
Outputs from Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
#158
of 476 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#29,707
of 84,494 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres
#2
of 2 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,906,448 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 476 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.0. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 84,494 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 17th percentile – i.e., 17% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 2 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one.