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Title: Giant impacts stochastically change the internal pressures of terrestrial planets

Abstract

Pressure is a key parameter in the physics and chemistry of planet formation and evolution. Previous studies have erroneously assumed that internal pressures monotonically increase with the mass of a body. Using smoothed particle hydrodynamics and potential field method calculations, we demonstrate that the hot, rapidly rotating bodies produced by giant impacts can have much lower internal pressures than cool, slowly rotating planets of the same mass. Pressures subsequently increase because of thermal and rotational evolution of the body. Using the Moon-forming impact as an example, we show that the internal pressures after the collision could have been less than half that in present-day Earth. The current pressure profile was not established until Earth cooled and the Moon receded, a process that may take up to tens of millions of years. Our work defines a new paradigm for pressure evolution during accretion of terrestrial planets: stochastic changes driven by impacts.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); NESSF; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
OSTI Identifier:
1614413
Grant/Contract Number:  
NA0002937; NNX13AO67H; NNX15AH54G
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Science Advances
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 2375-2548
Publisher:
AAAS
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; science & technology; other topics

Citation Formats

Lock, Simon J., and Stewart, Sarah T. Giant impacts stochastically change the internal pressures of terrestrial planets. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aav3746.
Lock, Simon J., & Stewart, Sarah T. Giant impacts stochastically change the internal pressures of terrestrial planets. United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav3746
Lock, Simon J., and Stewart, Sarah T. Wed . "Giant impacts stochastically change the internal pressures of terrestrial planets". United States. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav3746. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1614413.
@article{osti_1614413,
title = {Giant impacts stochastically change the internal pressures of terrestrial planets},
author = {Lock, Simon J. and Stewart, Sarah T.},
abstractNote = {Pressure is a key parameter in the physics and chemistry of planet formation and evolution. Previous studies have erroneously assumed that internal pressures monotonically increase with the mass of a body. Using smoothed particle hydrodynamics and potential field method calculations, we demonstrate that the hot, rapidly rotating bodies produced by giant impacts can have much lower internal pressures than cool, slowly rotating planets of the same mass. Pressures subsequently increase because of thermal and rotational evolution of the body. Using the Moon-forming impact as an example, we show that the internal pressures after the collision could have been less than half that in present-day Earth. The current pressure profile was not established until Earth cooled and the Moon receded, a process that may take up to tens of millions of years. Our work defines a new paradigm for pressure evolution during accretion of terrestrial planets: stochastic changes driven by impacts.},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aav3746},
journal = {Science Advances},
number = 9,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Wed Sep 04 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
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Cited by: 9 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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Seismic Evidence for Partial Melt at the Base of Earth's Mantle
journal, September 1996


Works referencing / citing this record:

The Energy Budgets of Giant Impacts
journal, January 2020

  • Carter, P. J.; Lock, S. J.; Stewart, S. T.
  • Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, Vol. 125, Issue 1
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The energy budgets of giant impacts
text, January 2019