Adam C.

Simon
Ph.D., University of Maryland,
2003

Research Associate
Department of Geology
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
p: 301 405 0235
f: 301 314 9661
e-mail: asimon@geol.umd.edu

Starting from
Scratch

NGC 4414

With the assistance of observational

and theoretical astronomy, and by
studying meteorites, geologists have
developed hypotheses about the
origin of our solar system
and the Earth.
Since these ideas
are hard to test
(because we have
to rely on things
very far away)
planetary geology
remains an actively
evolving field.

How to Make a Solar System, pt.1

begin with a region of space that has a high proportion of gas
and dust (this is not necessarily common: space is dominated
by vast areas containing little matter) -- these are celestial
leftovers from earlier cosmic events
disturb this dusty region with something like a shock wave,
perhaps from a nearby supernova: something to get the gas
and dust to compress

Eagle
Nebula
The Hubble
Space
Telescope has
shown us some
striking
examples of
nebulas in
neighboring
space--regions
of active star
formation.

How to Make a Solar System, pt.2

gravity then takes over, with most of the matter in the region
(which we call the presolar nebula) being compressed into the
center of a rotating disk

How to Make a Solar System, pt.3

dust in the disk starts to clump together, forming larger
masses; meanwhile the central part of the nebula, where
most of the mass is, starts to heat up
the internal pressure in the center of the nebula eventually is
great enough to initiate nuclear fusion: in this process light
elements merge to form heavier elements, and a huge
amount of energy is released (the familiar form to us is
sunlight)
fusion is how all of the heavy elements in nature are formed,
although the most important reaction is where hydrogen
atoms combine to form helium atoms

Galactic Catastrophism
We estimate that the entire
process of nebula formation and
star birth takes < 1 Myr.
...compare this to the ages of
the Earth (~4.5 Byr)
and the universe (~15 Byr)

M = million

Making Planets

as the sun forms, the outer parts of the nebula have

organized into the rotating protoplanetary disk
gas and dust in the disk rapidly clump together (mainly
through a combination of gravitational attraction and static
forces) into planetesimals
the clumps get bigger and bigger as each protoplanet
sweeps material from its part of the disk
as planetesimals grow in size, collisions can be destructive,
but eventually planets grow large
Based on meteorite ages,
we think that building planets this way would
take < 100 Myr to accomplish.

Looking for
Planets
Outside our
Solar System
One reason why we think the
nebular hypothesis of solar
system formation is accurate
is that we see evidence for
planet formation around
young stars elsewhere in the
universe.

The Terrestrial (inner) Planets

The inner planets of the solar system have some common
features. They are broadly similar in size and considerably richer
in elements like iron (Fe), silicon (Si), oxygen (O), aluminum (Al)
and magnesium (Mg) [the elements that make up rocks]
than the outer planets of the solar system.
Earth
Mercury

Mars

Venus

Earth is the Odd One (fortunately for us)

Despite the similarities, the Earth enjoys significant
differences from the other inner planets:
acidic
atmosphere at
high pressure
the only one with
decent atmosphere
(nitrogen+oxygen)
and abundant water

mostly iron;
too close to Sun

thin atmosphere
(CO2), but had
abundant water
at some point

Active Volcanism in the Solar System

before

after

Jupiters moon Io. Images taken 5 months apart, showing effects of the eruption
of the volcano Pillan (the grey spot), adjacent to massive volcano Pele (orange
circle). The deposit from the Pillan eruption is 400 km in diameter.

Extinct
Planetary Volcanism

old volcanoes on Venus

the
Tharsis Montes
on Mars

Olympus Mons
is the largest known
volcano in the solar
system.
How can Martian
volcanoes have been
so much bigger
(10-100 times)
than those on Earth?
lack of chemical weathering
weaker gravitational field (1/3)
larger flux of lava + sluggish surface
tectonics

Plate Tectonics on Other Planets?

To determine if plate tectonics were active on other
planets, what would we look for?
Volcanic activity alone does not require plate tectonics,
but it is a sign of geological activity. Extinct volcanoes
abound on both Mars and Venus.

Comparative Densities of the Planets

Although the compositions of the inner planets are broadly similar,
in the outer part of the solar system most of the volatile elements
condensed, and thus these planets have very low densities.

The Outer Planets: Gas Giants

The compositions of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are all
dominated by hydrogen, helium, methane -- gases and ices.
They are 4-10 times larger than the Earth,
but have much lower densities.
Why is the solar system chemically segregated the way it is?

Differentiation
Differentiation is the process of taking something that is
well-mixed and separating its components to some
ordered arrangement.
It can refer to mega-scale processes, like the solar system
or the Earth, or to smaller scales, like a single lava flow.

differentiate ~ separate ~ order ~ concentrate

Refractory and Volatile Elements

Chemical differentiation of the solar system occurred
because of the different freezing points of the elements:
Elements with high freezing (and melting) points are
called refractory (e.g., iron). Refractory elements
condense from a gaseous state at very high temperature.
Elements and compounds with low freezing points are
called volatile (e.g., hydrogen, water). Volatile elements
remain gases at low temperatures before solidifying.

Differentiation of the Solar System

There is a strong thermal gradient across the solar system,
meaning that it is much hotter close to the Sun than far away
(the vacuum of space does not conduct heat well).
In the early solar nebula, objects close to the young Sun were
heated to the point that all but their refractory elements were
largely boiled off.
Movement of this mass of volatile-element-rich gas away
from the Sun results in chemical differentiation
across the disk:
the inner planets are more enriched in refractory elements,
and generally poor in volatiles;
the outer planets very volatile rich and refractory-poor.

Planetary
Leftovers
The inner planets in the
early solar system started
out as mixed-up masses
of accreted dust.
At this stage, there was
still a lot of left-over
material floating around
the solar system,
which made it a dangerous place.
Hence we see the cratered surfaces of the planets.

Early Planets Heat Up

Impacts yield energy, which serves to heat material up.
The early planets were also heated up due to:
--decay of radioactive elements
--gravitational compression

asteroid Eros (33 km long)

Eratosthenes crater on the Earths Moon

Planetary Differentiation
As the early planets heated up,
they underwent internal chemical differentiation.
In this process, dense refractory elements tend to sink toward the
center, leaving material enriched in the less dense elements to
concentrate in the shallower regions.
As a result, all of the inner planets have generally similar
internal structures, which include:
--iron-rich core
--silicon-oxygen-magnesium-rich mantle
With further differentiation, the Earth also developed a
chemically distinct surface skin, called the crust.

The Bulk Composition of the Earth

Fig. 2.08

Internal Structure of the Earth: Core

mainly iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni) with some sulfur (S)
(also relatively rich in metals like platinum [Pt] and gold [Au])

initially mostly liquid: has crystallized over time

(cores of other inner planets are essentially solid now)
solid-liquid interaction may account for magnetic field
c ru s t (5 -6 0 k m )
m a n tle ( 2 8 5 0 k m )
o u te r c o re (2 2 6 0 k m )
in n e r c o r e ( 1 2 2 0 k m )

overall diameter ~ 6350 km

Internal Structure of the Earth: Mantle

>95% silicon (Si), oxygen (O), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe)
minor amounts of aluminum (Al) and calcium (Ca)
largest volume layer
solid (not molten) but able to flow
c ru s t (5 -6 0 k m )
m a n tle ( 2 8 5 0 k m )
o u te r c o re (2 2 6 0 k m )
in n e r c o r e ( 1 2 2 0 k m )

overall diameter ~ 6350 km

Internal Structure of the Earth: Crust

thin, rigid layer of scum on Earths surface
mainly silicon (Si), oxygen (O), aluminum (Al)
significant amount of iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), sodium (Na) and
potassium (K), magnesium (Mg)
where much of Earths volatile elements are concentrated
c ru s t (5 -6 0 k m )
m a n tle ( 2 8 5 0 k m )
o u te r c o re (2 2 6 0 k m )
in n e r c o r e ( 1 2 2 0 k m )

overall diameter ~ 6350 km

Water is a weird substance (compared to other

Water!

liquids) and is critical in the evolution of a planet,

and the formation of a biosphere.
Some of the odd properties of water:

expansion on freezing
unusually high melting and boiling point, extremely
high heat capacity and heat of vaporization
very high surface tension
absorbs much radiation in the UV and IR spectra,
but less in the visible
excellent solvent for ionic substances

Origin of the Earths Moon

The leading theory of
lunar origin involves the
early Earth being struck
in a glancing blow by a
planetesimal (or series
of planetesimals). The
hit was not dead-on, or
else the Earth probably
would have broken up.

Origin of the Earths Moon

In the hit, a great deal of Earth material was blown off. This
ejected debris combined with material from the
planetesimal and was gravitationally captured by the Earth.
One important question is when this collision occurred...

Simulating the Collision

4.2 minutes

These figures are from a numerical simulation of an oblique collision

between early Earth and a Mars-size impactor.

8.4 minutes

12.5 minutes

material that
becomes the
Moon

From this model, what parts of the Earth and the

impactor combine to make up the proto-Moon?
from Kipp and Melosh (86), Tonks and Melosh (93)

Lunar Origin and

Composition of Earth v. Moon
Lunar rocks and Earth rocks are very similar in composition
except that lunar rocks have much less Fe
(and essentially no water).
If the impact that made the Moon happened before the Earth
differentiated (when the core formed), we would expect the two
bodies to have essentially identical bulk compositions.
The only way to make a Moon that has much less Fe than the
Earth by this method is to have the collision occur after the
Earths core had formed.

Timing of Lunar Origin

Sequence:
Earth accretes (accretion means sticking together)
core forms, removing much of the Fe from the mantle
collision occurs, Moon coalesces from remains of
asteroid and Earth mantle debris
Lunar core segregates: Lunar mantle, already Fedepleted, loses even more of its Fe
Thus, Moon rocks that form after the Moons core formed
will be conspicuously low in Fe (but very similar in most
other elements) compared to equivalent rocks on Earth.
The ages of the oldest lunar rocks and the estimate for
Earth core formation are consistent with this model.

Early Solar System Timeline

You dont need to commit this to memory, but
having a general idea of the scales involved is important
(i.e., billions v. millions of years, which came first, etc.).
4.56 Byr... solar system assembled
4.50... accretion of Earth complete
4.45... Earths core formed
4.44... age of oldest lunar rocks
4.30... Earths crust stabilized
4.20... Earths hydrosphere in place
4.00... rapid decline in meteorite bombardment
4.00... end of activity on Mercury
4.00... volcanic activity on Moon
3.00... end of activity on Moon
2.00... end of activity on Mars

1 Byr = 1000 Myr; 0.01 Byr = 10 Myr

Meteorites: Critical Links to the Early Solar

System and the Deep Earth
Our understanding of the history of the solar system and of
the internal workings of our planet would be grossly
incomplete if not for meteorites that fall to Earth.
asteroid Mathilde

comet Halley

planet Mars

Meteorites:
Not Just Boring Rocks on Museum Shelves
Yes, they may be nothing to look at, even compared to
Earth rocks, but meteorites are critical to our
understanding of not only the origin and composition of
the solar system, but of the Earth itself.
the big 4 Martian meteorites

stony meteorite (chondrite)

Meteorites Are Important

-- best estimates of age of the solar system
-- homogeneous meteorites called chondrites give us the
best estimate of the bulk composition of the Earth
-- iron meteorites match a lot of our remote estimates for
composition of the core

metal crystals in an iron meteorite

iron
meteorite
(304 kg)

Meteorites Are Important

-- prior to the Mars Pathfinder mission, they gave us the
only (and still the best) estimate of the composition
(and age) of planet Mars
-- stony-iron meteorites [photo below] may represent
material from the core-mantle interface

Mg-silicate (olivine)

Fe-Ni metal

Meteorites of Gold!?
Yes, iron meteorites are relatively enriched in precious
metals like gold (Au), but
were still talking about concentrations in the
parts per BILLION.

asteroid Ida
and satellite
Dactyl

Meteorites Can Kill!

Every year ~60 MEGATONS of space dust and
larger cosmic debris reaches the Earths surface.
Our planet is a big target.

A ~12 kg meteorite (a
chondrite) ended the life of
this classic Chevy Malibu in
Peekskill, NY, in 1992.

Credits
Some images in this presentation come from:
NASA
JPL
LPI
www.nyrockman.com
Earth: Portrait of a Planet (1st ed.) by S. Marshak
Univ. Tennesee, Knoxville (ASTR 161)