Abstract
Rheological experiments on fine-grained water ice II at low strain rates reveal a creep mechanism that dominates at conditions of low stress. Using cryogenic scanning electron microscopy, we observed that a change in stress exponent from 5 to 2.5 correlates strongly with a decrease in grain size from about 40 to 6 micrometers. The grain size-sensitive creep of ice II demonstrated here plausibly dominates plastic strain at the low-stress conditions in the interior of medium- to large-sized icy moons of the outer solar system.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1267-1269 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Science |
Volume | 311 |
Issue number | 5765 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Mar 3 2006 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General