Related papers: Lava Worlds: From Early Earth to Exoplanets
The Moon-forming giant impact extensively melts and partially vaporizes the silicate Earth and delivers a substantial mass of metal to Earth's core. Subsequent evolution of the magma ocean and overlying atmosphere has been described by…
Recent observations of the potentially habitable planets TRAPPIST-1 e, f, and g suggest that they possess large water mass fractions of possibly several tens of wt% of water, even though the host star's activity should drive rapid…
The earliest atmospheres of rocky planets originate from extensive volatile release during magma ocean epochs that occur during assembly of the planet. These establish the initial distribution of the major volatile elements between…
The geophysics of extrasolar planets is a scientific topic often regarded as standing largely beyond the reach of near-term observations. This reality in no way diminishes the central role of geophysical phenomena in shaping planetary…
Earth's water, intrinsic oxidation state, and metal core density are fundamental chemical features of our planet. Studies of exoplanets provide a useful context for elucidating the source of these chemical traits. Planet formation and…
A magma ocean is expected to exist on the dayside of tide-locked planets if surface temperature exceeds the melting temperature of typical crust. As highly prioritized targets for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), more information…
Terrestrial planets, with silicate mantles and metallic cores, are likely to obtain water and carbon compounds during accretion. Here I examine the conditions that allow early formation of a surface water ocean (simultaneous with cooling to…
Understanding the origin and long-term evolution of the Solar System is a fundamental goal of planetary science and astrophysics. This chapter describes our current understanding of the key processes that shaped our planetary system,…
The impact heat accumulated during the late stage of planetary accretion can melt a significant part or even the entire mantle of a terrestrial body, giving rise to a global magma ocean. [...] Assuming fractional crystallization of the…
The early evolution of the Earth-Moon system prescribes the tidal environment of the Hadean Earth and holds the key to the formation mechanism of the Moon and its thermal evolution. Estimating its early state by backtracking from the…
Atmospheric energy transport is central to the cooling of primordial magma oceans. Theoretical studies of atmospheres on lava planets have assumed that convection is the only process involved in setting the atmospheric temperature…
Water and land surfaces on a planet interact with gases in the atmosphere and with radiation from the star. These interactions define the environments that prevail on the planet, some of which may be more amenable to prebiotic chemistry,…
Nearly 30 years after the discovery of the first exoplanet around a main sequence star, thousands of planets have now been confirmed. These discoveries have completely revolutionized our understanding of planetary systems, revealing types…
Many known rocky exoplanets are so highly irradiated that their dayside surfaces are molten, and `silicate atmospheres', composed of rock-forming elements, are generated above these lava pools. The compositions of these `lava planet'…
A theoretical model that describes the evolution of a suspension in which crystals can sediment to form a dense cumulate or may produce a light flotation crust has been derived in a companion paper. We use this model to study the thermal…
This article reviews the emerging field of exo-geoscience, focusing on the geological and geophysical processes thought to influence the evolution and (eu)habitability of rocky exoplanets. We examine the possible roles of planetary…
The magma ocean (MO) is a crucial stage in the build-up of terrestrial planets. Its solidification and the accompanying outgassing of volatiles set the conditions for important processes occurring later or even simultaneously, such as…
The evolution and structure of sub-Neptunes may be strongly influenced by interactions between the outer gaseous envelope of the planet and a surface magma ocean. However, given the wide variety of permissible interior structures of these…
In recent years, numerical models that were developed for Earth have been adapted to study exoplanetary climates to understand how the broad range of possible exoplanetary properties affects their climate state. The recent discovery and…
As one of the most detectable types of terrestrial planets, lava worlds are highly prioritized targets for exoplanet atmosphere characterization since their atmospheres may reveal what they are made of and how. Our work examines the…