Effect of land fraction on weathering and tenure in the habitable zone of terrestrial planets around main-sequence stars

Details Effect of land fraction on weathering and tenure in the habitable zone of terrestrial planets around main-sequence stars Effect of land fraction on weathering and tenure in the habitable zone of terrestrial planets around main-sequence stars

Dec 2011

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p21c1673a&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P21C-1673

Biology

[0325] Atmospheric Composition And Structure / Evolution Of The Atmosphere, [0428] Biogeosciences / Carbon Cycling, [5200] Planetary Sciences: Astrobiology, [5455] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Origin And Evolution

Scientific paper

According to current models of volatile delivery, the water fraction of terrestrial planets in the habitable zone of main-sequence stars is likely to be highly variable. This will affect the continental land fraction, and consequently the functioning of weathering and the carbon cycle. We construct a low-order analytical model of climate, continental silicate weathering, and seafloor weathering to investigate, in a general sense, the effect of land fraction on the long-term carbon cycle. This model is useful for gaining physical insight, rather than for making specific predictions. Using our model, we reach the following conclusions: (1) The surface temperature increases with decreasing land fraction, with waterworlds 10's of K warmer than planets with 50% continental coverage. (2) There can be no weathering feedback on a waterworld. The tenure of a waterworld in the habitable zone is therefore likely to be much shorter than the tenure of a planet with some continent in the habitable zone. (3) The silicate weathering feedback is effective even at very low land fractions. The rate of change of a planet's surface temperature as the star it orbits evolves on the main sequence is similar if the land fraction is 0.3 or 0.01.

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