Studies of geologic faulting on icy moons aid exploration of extraterrestrial watery worlds

On the surface of many of the icy moons in our solar system, scientists have documented strike-slip faults, those that occur when fault walls move past one another sideways, as is the case at the San Andreas fault in California. Two recently published studies led by University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Earth and space scientists document and reveal the mechanisms behind these geologic features on the largest moon of Saturn, Titan, and Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede.