Related papers: Earth and Mars interior structures set by re-melti…
The energy associated with giant impacts is large enough to generate global magma oceans during Earth's accretion. However, geochemical evidence requiring a terrestrial magma ocean is scarce. Here we present evidence for at least two…
Earth's tectonic processes regulate the formation of continental crust, control its unique deep water and carbon cycles, and are vital to its surface habitability. A major driver of steady-state plate tectonics on Earth is the sinking of…
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…
The evolution of the interior of stagnant-lid bodies is comparatively easier to model and predict with respect to the Earth's due to the absence of the large uncertainties associated with the physics of plate tectonics, its onset time and…
Ice-rich planets are formed exterior to the water ice-line and thus are expected to contain a substantial amount of ices. The high ice content leads to unique conditions in the interior, under which the structure of a planet is affected by…
Earth possesses a persistent, internally-generated magnetic field, whereas no trace of a dynamo has been detected on Venus, at present or in the past, although a high surface temperature and recent resurfacing events may have removed…
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…
The absence of global magnetic fields is often cited to explain why Mars lacks a dense atmosphere. This line of thought is based on a prevailing theory that magnetic fields can shield the atmosphere from solar wind erosion. However, we…
Massive steam and CO$_2$ atmospheres have been proposed for magma ocean outgassing of Earth and terrestrial planets. Yet formation of such atmospheres depends on volatile exchange with the molten interior, governed by volatile solubilities…
It has been suggested that Earth's present water budget formed from oxidation reactions between its initial hydrogen-rich primordial atmosphere and its magma ocean. Here we examine this hypothesis by building a comprehensive…
Super-Earths are highly irradiated, small planets with bulk densities approximately consistent with Earth. We construct combined interior-atmosphere models of super-Earths that trace the partitioning of water throughout a planet, including…
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…
Mars is the Solar System's canonical small, rocky planet that transitioned from early geologic activity and surface liquid water to a cold and arid planet with a thin, cold, CO$_2$-dominated atmosphere. The evolution of Mars, in the context…
Water cycling between Earth's mantle and surface has previously been modelled and extrapolated to rocky exoplanets, but these studies neglected the host star. M-dwarf stars are more common than Sun-like stars and at least as likely to host…
The atmospheres of the terrestrial planets are known to have been modified as a consequence of the impact degassing and atmospheric erosion during the late accretion. Despite the commonality of these processes, there are distinct gaps --…
Earth-like planets orbiting M-dwarf stars, M-Earths, are currently the best targets to search for signatures of life. Life as we know it requires water. The habitability of M-Earths is jeopardized by water loss to space: high flux from…
Reconciling the geology of Mars with models of atmospheric evolution remains a major challenge. Martian geology is characterized by past evidence for episodic surface liquid water, and geochemistry indicating a slow and intermittent…
The ever-expanding catalog of detected super-Earths calls for theoretical studies of their properties in the case of a substantial water layer. This work considers such water planets with a range of masses and water mass fractions (2 to 5…
For decades, scientists have tried to explain the evidence for fluvial activity on early Mars, but a consensus has yet to emerge regarding the mechanism for producing it. One hypothesis suggests early Mars was warmed by a thick greenhouse…
The process of lunar magma ocean solidification provides constraints on the properties of distinct chemical reservoirs in the lunar mantle that formed during the early evolution of the Moon. We use a combination of phase equilibria models…