title: Grain size-sensitive creep in ice II.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan. kubotomo@geo.kyushu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Tomoaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kubo
authors.forename: William B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Durham
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Stern
authors.forename: Stephen H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kirby
mesh_terms: D055598:Chemical Phenomena; D002627:Chemistry, Physical; D007053:Ice; D018538:Jupiter; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D018541:Neptune; D016083:Planets; D011312:Pressure; D012212:Rheology; D018539:Saturn; D018540:Uranus
chemical_list: D007053:Ice