Computer Science
Scientific paper
Sep 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008epsc.conf..966m&link_type=abstract
European Planetary Science Congress 2008, Proceedings of the conference held 21-25 September, 2008 in Münster, Germany. Online a
Computer Science
Scientific paper
A 1D thermal evolution model of Mercury is presented. Refer to Fig. 1 for a sketch. Mercury is assumed to consist of a dense, initially entirely fluid iron-rich core surrounded by a convecting silicate mantle with a conducting immobile layer on top. Heating is provided by radiogenic decay. As the planet evolves, an inner core may freeze out and the mantle may differentiate by forming a basaltic crust. As our current knowledge of Mercury provides poor constraints on key parameters including mantle rheology, sulphur contents of the core or radiogenic heat sources, a broad range of contrasting values is used to create thermal histories of the innermost planet of the solar system. The proposed evolutions of mantle temperature, core adiabat and stagnant lid thickness provide starting points for considerations pertaining to a possible core dynamo, interior and exterior heat flows, characteristics of the mantle-crust system, impact events and the Hermian gravity field. For given parameters, mantle convection is likely to have continued until the present day. Inner cores of pure iron—either completely frozen out or engulfed in a spherical liquid shell—are obtained only if "wet" mantle rheology is assumed. Results from earlier and current studies and data obtained by Mariner 10 or ground-based studies are used to evaluate the various model outcomes, but insight expected from the BepiColombo or MESSENGER missions is required to further limit the parameter space. The present-day ratio of Mercury's inner and outer cores as determined by the core sulphur content is shown in Fig. 2 for an initially volatile-rich (A) and refractory-rich (B) mantle-crust system. Trends in results characterizing the present-day Hermian mantlecrust system are shown in Fig. 3.
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