Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41495054›Full record

ArticleNature communications2026

Little to no active faulting likely at Europa's seafloor today.

Paul K Byrne, Henry G Dawson, Christian Klimczak, Paul V Regensburger, Kelsey T Crane, Jeffrey G Catalano, Catherine M Elder, Bradford J Foley, Christopher R German, Austin P Green and 8 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors.

Paul K ByrneDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA. paul.byrne@wustl.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5644-7069
Henry G DawsonDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.
Christian KlimczakDepartment of Geology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6811-8502
Paul V RegensburgerDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0000-0958-5701
Kelsey T CraneSeres Engineering & Services, LLC, Charleston, SC, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5652-053X
Jeffrey G CatalanoDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9311-977X
Catherine M ElderJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9993-8861
Bradford J FoleyDepartment of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6943-3192
Christopher R GermanDepartment of Geology and Geophysics, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3417-6413
Austin P GreenDepartment of Geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Douglas J HemingwayInstitute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5617-207X
Mohit Melwani DaswaniJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4611-3209
Mark P PanningJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2041-3190
Noah Randolph-FlaggDepartment of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
Barbara Sherwood LollarDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Philip SkemerDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6702-1098
Steven D VanceJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4242-3293
Douglas A WiensDepartment of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5169-4386

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Many of the outer Solar System's icy satellites feature known or suspected subsurface oceans, at least some of which are likely situated atop rocky interiors. Water-rock interactions at and beneath these seafloors might support active chemoautotrophic habitats, with subseafloor fluid flow facilitated by active faulting and hydrothermal systems. Absent such phenomena, however, any attainment of chemical equilibrium between the seafloor and ocean might limit the availability of chemical energy for life. Here, we characterise the stress state of the seafloor of Jupiter's moon Europa, and thus the prospect for fracturing and associated sub-seafloor fluid flow there. We consider stresses from tidal forcing, global contraction, mantle convection, and serpentinisation. We find that none of these mechanisms is likely able to drive slip along even weak, pre-existing fractures in the present. Ocean water-rock reactions taking place today are therefore probably restricted to fluid flow through only the upper few hundred metres of the seafloor. Any processes able to sustain habitable conditions at the Europan seafloor today must therefore be independent of ongoing tectonic activity.

Identifiers

PMID41495054
PMCPMC12775069

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.