What feature on Saturn's moon Enceladus is a direct result of tidal heating maintaining subsurface liquid water?
Answer
Massive geysers erupting through fissures near the south pole, feeding Saturn's E-ring.
Enceladus demonstrates tidal power applied to an icy body rather than a rocky one. While the tidal kneading is not powerful enough to maintain liquid rock like on Io, it is sufficient to keep significant quantities of water liquid beneath its icy crust. This liquid water erupts vigorously through fissures located near the south pole region, forming massive geysers. These plumes are observed to feed directly into Saturn's E-ring, confirming that the tidal heating mechanism has been consistently operating over geological timescales to maintain this liquid reservoir and drive the cryovolcanic eruptions.
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