Other
Scientific paper
Sep 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009dps....41.3105e&link_type=abstract
American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #41, #31.05
Other
Scientific paper
Late, giant accretionary impacts likely form multiple magma oceans of some depth in young rocky planets. Models of magma ocean solidification that incorporate water, carbon, and other incompatible volatile elements in small amounts predict a range of first-order outcomes important to planetary evolution.
First, initial planetary bulk composition and size determine the composition of the earliest degassed atmosphere. This early atmosphere appears in a rapid burst at the end of solidification, determined by the ability of nucleating bubbles to reach the surface. Larger planets will have briefer and more catastrophic atmospheric degassing during solidification of any magma ocean. Second, this early atmosphere is sufficiently insulating to keep the planetary surface hot for millions of years. Depending upon the atmospheric composition and temperature structure these hot young planets may be observable from Earth or from satellites. Third, small but significant quantities of volatiles remain in the planet's solid mantle, encouraging convection, plate tectonics, and later atmospheric degassing through volcanism.
A critical outcome of magma ocean solidification is the development of a solid mantle density gradient with den-sity increasing with radius, which will flow to gravitational stability. Shallow, dense, damp material will carry its water content as it sinks into the perovskite stability zone and transforms into perovskite. Even in models with very low initial water contents, a large fraction of the sinking upper mantle material will be forced to dewater as it crosses the boundary into the relatively dry lower mantle, leaving its water behind in a rapid flux as it sinks. This water ad-dition could initiate or speed convection in planets in which perovskite is stable, that is, planets larger than Mars.
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