Related papers: New Indivisible Geoscience Paradigm
The Earth's inner core plays a vital role in the dynamics of our planet and is itself strongly exposed to dynamic processes as evidenced by a complex pattern of elastic structure. To gain deeper insight into the nature of these processes we…
An intriguing aspect of chondritic meteorites is that they are complementary: while their separate components have wildly varying abundances, bulk chondrites have nearly solar composition. This implies that the nearly-solar reservoirs in…
Planet formation encompasses processes that span a remarkable 40 magnitudes in mass, ranging from collisions between micron-sized grains inherited from the ISM to the accretion of gas by giant planets. The planet formation process takes…
The discovery that the short-lived radionucleide iron-60 was present in the oldest meteorites suggests that the formation of the Earth closely followed the death of a massive star. I discuss three astrophysical origins: winds from an AGB…
This concept article discusses the challenges of identifying planetary-origin meteorites of non-igneous composition, primarily of sedimentary origin, distinct from SNC meteorites. The paper reviews evidence on putative sedimentary-origin…
The existence of plate tectonics on the Earth is directly dependent on the internal viscosity contrast, mass of the planet, availability of liquid water and an internal heat source. However, the initial conditions of rotational velocity and…
First principles electronic structure calculations based on density functional theory have been used to study the thermodynamic, structural and transport properties of solid solutions and liquid alloys of iron and oxygen at Earth's core…
Super-Earths, objects slightly larger than Earth and slightly smaller than Uranus, have found a special place in exoplanetary science. As a new class of planetary bodies, these objects have challenged models of planet formation at both ends…
Observations of comets and asteroids show that the Solar Nebula that spawned our planetary system was rich in water and organic molecules. Bombardment brought these organics to the young Earth's surface, seeding its early chemistry. Unlike…
Research over the past four decades has shown a rich variety of complex organic molecular content in some meteorites. This current study is an attempt to gain a better insight into the thermal conditions experienced by these molecules…
The eccentric orbits of the known extrasolar giant planets provide evidence that most planet-forming environments undergo violent dynamical instabilities. Here, we numerically simulate the impact of giant planet instabilities on planetary…
The thermochemical evolution of planetesimals is an underprobed stage of volatile delivery to terrestrial planets during their formation, and may contribute to the volatile depletion of the Earth relative to primitive chondrites. We have…
Conventional planet formation theory suggests that chondritic materials have delivered crucial atmospheric and hydrospheric elements such as carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and hydrogen (H) onto primitive Earth. However, recent measurements…
In addition to its global North-South anisotropy(1), there are two other enigmatic seismological observations related to the Earth's inner core: asymmetry between its eastern and western hemispheres(2-6) and the presence of a layer of…
The most abundant components of primitive meteorites (chondrites) are millimeter-sized glassy spherical chondrules formed by transient melting events in the solar protoplanetary disk. Using Pb-Pb dates of 22 individual chondrules, we show…
Ascertaining rocky exoplanets dynamic evolution requires better understanding of key internal thermophysical processes that shaped their geological surfaces, heat fluxes, volatiles and atmospheric content. New high-pressure experiments on…
Giant planets are tens to thousands of times as massive as the Earth, and many times as large. Most of their volumes are occupied by hydrogen and helium, the primary constituents of the protostellar disks from which they formed.…
We find that, under certain conditions, protoplanetary disks may spontaneously generate multiple, concentric gas rings without an embedded planet through an eccentric cooling instability. Using both linear theory and non-linear…
The majority of discovered exoplanetary systems harbour a new class of planets, bodies typically several times more massive than Earth but orbiting their host stars well inside the orbit of Mercury. The origin of these close-in super-Earths…
Recent observations of the Earth's exosphere revealed the presence of an extended hydrogenic component that could reach distances beyond 40 planetary radii. Detection of similar extended exospheres around Earth-like exoplanets could reveal…