Related papers: Whole-Earth Decompression Dynamics
In the standard rebound theory of earthquakes, elastic deformation energy is progressively stored in the crust until a threshold is reached at which it is suddenly released in an earthquake. We review three important paradoxes, the strain…
Earth's fast rotation imposes the Taylor-Proudman Constraint that opposes fluid motion across an imaginary cylindrical surface called the Tangent Cylinder (TC) obtained by extruding the equatorial perimeter of the solid inner core along the…
Glacial cycles redistribute water between oceans and continents causing pressure changes in the upper mantle, with consequences for melting of Earth's interior. Using Plio-Pleistocene sea-level variations as a forcing function, theoretical…
The formation of super-Earths is strongly linked to the structure of the protoplanetary disc, which determines growth and migration. In the pebble accretion scenario, planets grow to the pebble isolation mass, at which the planet carves a…
Global temperature is a fundamental climate metric highly correlated with sea level, which implies that keeping shorelines near their present location requires keeping global temperature within or close to its preindustrial Holocene range.…
Understanding processes that determine the global circulation of the atmosphere is necessary for long-term weather forecasting and climate studies which are critical for ensuring energy security. Processes in the atmosphere depend on many…
The general circulation of the atmosphere determines the long-term variability of weather processes. This circulation is driven by the temperature differences between the poles and the equator, causing air to move along the Earth's surface.…
Planets are often covered with thin cracked shells. From mud films to lithospheres of rock or ice, fracture networks form two-dimensional (2D) tessellations of convex polygons whose geometry encodes their genesis. Here we chart the geometry…
Several lines of evidence indicate a non-chondritic composition for Bulk Earth. If Earth formed from the accretion of chondritic material, its non-chondritic composition, in particular the super-chondritic 142Nd/144Nd and low Mg/Fe ratios,…
A model for terrestrial planets, inclusive of viscous fluid behavior and featuring finite normal stress differences, is developed. This work offers new insights for the interpretation of planetary survey data. Evolution equations for…
We have investigated the migration behaviors of uranium (U) and thorium (Th) in Earth and other terrestrial planets. Theoretical models of U and Th migration have been proposed. These models suggest that the unique features of Earth are…
Seismic and geodynamic studies indicate that the boundary between the Earth's liquid outer core and solid mantle is not spherical, but is likely characterized by topography in the form of inverted mountains and valleys that have typical…
Massive giant planets, such as the ones being discovered by direct imaging surveys, likely experience the majority of their growth through a circumplanetary disc. We argue that the entropy of accreted material is determined by boundary…
Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are commonly thought to have accreted hydrogen/helium envelopes, consisting of a few to ten percent of their total mass, from the primordial gas disk. Subsequently, hydrodynamic escape driven by core-powered…
Past efforts to interrogate the mantle's contribution to Earth's topography suffer from inadequate in-situ measurements of true bathymetry and the involvement of an empirical plate model whose presumed lithospheric density profile…
Planets with masses larger than about 0.1 Earth-masses undergo rapid inward migration (type I migration) in a standard protoplanetary disk. Recent magnetohydrodynamical simulations revealed the presence of magnetically driven disk winds,…
The modern theory of elasticity and the first law of thermodynamics are cornerstones of engineering science that share the concept of reversibility. Engineering researchers have known for four decades that the modern theory violates the…
The formation of the solar system's terrestrial planets concluded with a period of giant impacts. Previous works examining the volatile loss caused by the impact shock in the moon-forming impact find atmospheric losses of at most 20-30 per…
The atmosphere of a terrestrial planet that is replenished with secondary gases should have accumulated hydrogen-rich gas from its protoplanetary disk. Although a giant impact blows off a large fraction of the primordial atmosphere of a…
Chondrites are the likely building blocks of Earth, and identifying the group of chondrite that best represents Earth is a key to resolving the state of the early Earth. The origin of chondrites, however, remains controversial partly…