A vast, flat, “featureless” plain on Mars surprised researchers by revealing a much more tumultuous geologic past than expected, according to a study led by researchers at the University of […]
tectonics
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Can One Hear Supercontinents In The Tides Of Ocean Planets?
Recent observations and theoretical progress made about the history of the Earth-Moon system suggest that tidal dissipation in oceans primarily drives the long term evolution of orbital systems hosting ocean […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Press Release
Initiation of Plate Tectonics on Exoplanets with Significant Tidal Stress
Plate tectonics is a geophysical process currently unique to Earth, has an important role in regulating the Earth’s climate, and may be better understood by identifying rocky planets outside our […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Press Release
Stellar Chemical Clues As To The Rarity of Exoplanetary Tectonics
Earth’s tectonic processes regulate the formation of continental crust, control its unique deep water and carbon cycles, and are vital to its surface habitability. A major driver of steady-state plate […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Planetary Sweet Spot: Plate Tectonics Depend on Elemental Abundances
Planet Earth is situated in what astronomers call the Goldilocks Zone — a sweet spot in a solar system where a planet’s surface temperature is neither too hot nor too […]