subsurface

With layers of clay and bedrock of chalk, the subsurface is too soft to drill a bore tunnel, said Per Goltermann, a professor in concrete and structures at the Technical University of Denmark.

In a study published in The Planetary Science Journal, University of North Dakota astronomer Caleb Strong explained that their research revealed Miranda likely has a subsurface ocean, which Strong described as “weird.”

“We knew that the liquid water being buried deep in the subsurface was one possible solution to the question of where Mars' ancient liquid surface water went.”

“A lot of rocks that are in Australia can produce hydrogen. We have a lot of old granites that are now close to the subsurface and can generate hydrogen through radiogenic processes.”

Previous experiments never studied the organic compounds from Enceladus in hydrothermal conditions such as those believed to exist on the moon's its subsurface ocean.