Scientists led by Michael Ackerson, a research geologist at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, provide new evidence that modern plate tectonics, a defining feature of Earth and its […]
Astrogeology
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Icy Worlds, Neptune, Press Release, Uranus
Deep Water On Neptune And Uranus May Be Magnesium-rich
While scientists have amassed considerable knowledge of the rocky planets in our solar system, like Earth and Mars, much less is known about the icy water-rich planets, Neptune and Uranus. […]
Posted inAstrogeology
Where On Earth Is All The Water?
High-temperature and high-pressure experiments involving a diamond anvil and chemicals to simulate the core of the young Earth demonstrate for the first time that hydrogen can bond strongly with iron […]
Posted inAstrogeology
Using Geology To Help Astronomers Find Habitable Planets
Astronomers have identified more than 4,000, and counting, confirmed exoplanets — planets orbiting stars other than the sun — but only a fraction have the potential to sustain life. Now, […]
Posted inAstrogeology
Earth's Carbon Deficit Caused By Early Loss Through Irreversible Sublimation
Carbon is an essential element for life but its behavior during Earth’s accretion is not well understood. Carbonaceous grains in meteoritic and cometary materials suggest that irreversible sublimation, and not […]
Posted inAstrogeology
Early Earth's Hot Mantle May Have Led To An Archean Water World
A vast global ocean may have covered early Earth during the early Archean eon, 4 to 3.2 billion years ago, a side effect of having a hotter mantle than today, […]
Posted inAstrogeology
Hemispheric Tectonics on Super-Earth LHS 3844b
The tectonic regime of rocky planets fundamentally influences their long-term evolution and cycling of volatiles between interior and atmosphere. Earth is the only known planet with active plate tectonics, but […]
Posted inAstrogeology
Formation of Venus, Earth and Mars: Constrained by Isotopes
We discuss the current state of knowledge of terrestrial planet formation from the aspects of different planet formation models and isotopic data from 182Hf-182W, U-Pb, lithophile-siderophile elements, 48Ca/44Ca isotope samples […]
Posted inAstrogeology
Modeling Stellar Abundance Patterns Resulting From The Addition Of Earthlike Planetary Material
The literature on precision differential abundances (PDAs) in stars is extensive. Surveys include sun-like stars in the solar neighborhood, binary systems, and Galactic clusters. Numerous references as well as a […]
Posted inAstrogeology
New study of Earth's Crust Shows Global Growth Spurt Three Billion Years Ago
Curtin University researchers have used ancient crystals from eroded rocks found in stream sediments in Greenland to successfully test the theory that portions of Earth’s ancient crust acted as ‘seeds’ […]