Scientists have discovered traces of an ancient ocean under the ice of the moon of Uranus

Scientists have discovered traces of an ancient ocean with a diameter of about 1,159 km under the ice on one of Uranus' five large moons, Ariel. This was reported by the ScienceDirect scientific portal with reference to the study.

"The presence of a residual ocean on Ariel is assumed in the work of Castillo-Roges and based on the interpretation of images obtained from the Voyager 2 spacecraft, containing geological features that are believed to indicate cryovolcanism and tectonism," the article says.

During the research, an international team of scientists managed to find out that the depth of the ancient subglacial ocean could reach about 170 km, despite the fact that the average depth of the Pacific Ocean on Earth reaches only 4 km.

"Based on geological analysis and modeling of tidal stresses, it is assumed that in geologically recent times there was a significant ocean under the surface of Ariel," the material clarifies.

It is noted that the second satellite in the vicinity of Uranus is covered with large faults, ridges, grabens and craters, which may indicate cryovolcanic activity, in which frozen liquids come to the surface as a result of eruptions. In particular, a double ridge, like on the surface of Ariel, has also previously been found on other icy moons such as Europa and Triton, but has not yet been found in other parts of the Solar System.

On October 3, it was reported that a recent analysis of Cassini mission data revealed new organic compounds in the geysers of Saturn's moon Enceladus, which reinforces speculation about its potential habitability. It was noted that the researchers were able to study in more detail the composition of the subsurface ocean, hidden under a layer of ice 20-30 km thick, which confirmed the presence of previously discovered organic molecules — precursors of amino acids.

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