Tidal heating

Tidal heating (also known as tidal working or tidal flexing) occurs through the tidal friction processes: orbital and rotational energy are dissipated as heat in either the surface ocean or interior of a planet or satellite. Io, a moon of Jupiter, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system, evidenced by active volcanos and no impact craters surviving on its surface. Io's heating is a result of the tug between Jupiter and the other Galilean moons. The eccentricity of Io's orbit (a consequence of its participation in a Laplace resonance) causes the height of Io's tidal bulge to vary significantly (by up to 100 m) over the course of an orbit; the friction from this tidal flexing then heats up its interior. A similar but weaker process is theorised to have melted the lower layers

Tidal heating

Tidal heating (also known as tidal working or tidal flexing) occurs through the tidal friction processes: orbital and rotational energy are dissipated as heat in either the surface ocean or interior of a planet or satellite. Io, a moon of Jupiter, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system, evidenced by active volcanos and no impact craters surviving on its surface. Io's heating is a result of the tug between Jupiter and the other Galilean moons. The eccentricity of Io's orbit (a consequence of its participation in a Laplace resonance) causes the height of Io's tidal bulge to vary significantly (by up to 100 m) over the course of an orbit; the friction from this tidal flexing then heats up its interior. A similar but weaker process is theorised to have melted the lower layers