<p>Looking at the big moons of the outer solar system a clear pattern can be seen. Thick icey surface layers covering rocky mantles and deep down metallic cores. The only outlier is Io as it has no icey, but a rocky surface. <strong>Did Io form this way or has Jupiter's tidal heating now powering it's intense vulcanic activity cooked away its oceans?</strong> After all water vapor could not be retained on Io so if the surface ice where to melt it would escape Io for good. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-08T13:18:26.260Z
This https://arxiv.org/pdf/1506.01024.pdf seems relevant. Skimming it, it seems that the early history of large moons of Jupiter and Saturn is not something on which there is a single accepted view yet and is entangled with the early history of Jupiter and Saturn themselves, which is also still debated.
Steve Linton
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-08T13:42:43.853Z
@Steve Linton Thanks, the document made for an interesting read. While Io isn't discussed explicitly the comment about Callisto being alt least affected by Jupiter's heat and the frost lime diagram seem to suggest that Jupiters heat prevented the accretion of huge amounts of ice on Io and by extention Europa, if I understood the text correctly.
TheDyingOfLight
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-08T15:01:56.763Z
That's what  I would expect. It's possible though that, like the planets, the moons moved around a great deal  during the early history of the solar system as they interacted with one another and with smaller rocks and dust.
Steve Linton
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-08T23:01:16.017Z
A similar question I asked: https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/29927/can-a-frost-line-exist-around-a-protoplanet
Ingolifs
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-09T14:55:59.467Z
I waded across the Mississippi river once. It was about eight feet wide in northern Minnesota. I've no idea why they picked that particular stream. Io may have started out as a grain of sand, a frozen water droplet, or a crystal of sulfur.
Wayfaring Stranger
<planetary-formation><io><atmospheric-escape><galilean-moons>
Did Io start out as an icemoon?
TheDyingOfLight
# Did Io start out as an icemoon?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-05-08)

Looking at the big moons of the outer solar system a clear pattern can be seen. Thick icey surface layers covering rocky mantles and deep down metallic cores. The only outlier is Io as it has no icey, but a rocky surface. **Did Io form this way or has Jupiter's tidal heating now powering it's intense vulcanic activity cooked away its oceans?** After all water vapor could not be retained on Io so if the surface ice where to melt it would escape Io for good.

**Tags:** planetary-formation, io, atmospheric-escape, galilean-moons

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: This https://arxiv.org/pdf/1506.01024.pdf seems relevant. Skimming it, it seems that the early history of large moons of Jupiter and Saturn is not something on which there is a single accepted view yet and is entangled with the early history of Jupiter and Saturn themselves, which is also still debated.  
> **username_0**: @username_1 Thanks, the document made for an interesting read. While Io isn't discussed explicitly the comment about Callisto being alt least affected by Jupiter's heat and the frost lime diagram seem to suggest that Jupiters heat prevented the accretion of huge amounts of ice on Io and by extention Europa, if I understood the text correctly.  
> **username_1**: That's what  I would expect. It's possible though that, like the planets, the moons moved around a great deal  during the early history of the solar system as they interacted with one another and with smaller rocks and dust.  
> **username_2**: A similar question I asked: https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/29927/can-a-frost-line-exist-around-a-protoplanet  
> **username_3**: I waded across the Mississippi river once. It was about eight feet wide in northern Minnesota. I've no idea why they picked that particular stream. Io may have started out as a grain of sand, a frozen water droplet, or a crystal of sulfur.  

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## 0 answers

