Star compositions are essential for examining densities and compositional ranges of rocky exoplanets, testing their similarity to Earth. Stellar elemental abundances and planetary orbital data show that of the ~5000 known minerals, exoplanetary silicate mantles will contain mostly olivine, orthopyroxene, and clinopyroxene, ± quartz, and magnesiuwustite at the extremes; wholly exotic mineralogies are likely absent. Understanding these exotic geological systems requires a better marriage of geological insights to astronomical data. The study of exoplanets is like a mirror, reflecting our incomplete understanding of Earth and neighboring planets; new geological/planetary experiments, informed by exoplanet studies, are needed for effectual progress.
@article{arxiv.2108.08383,
title = {Compositional Diversity of Rocky Exoplanets},
author = {Keith Putirka and Caroline Dorn and Natalie Hinkel and Cayman Unterborn},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.08383},
year = {2021}
}
Comments
To be published as article 2 in the "Geoscience Beyond the Solar System" issue of Elements magazine, v17 No4 1