Terrestrial planets compositions

There appears to be a correlation between the mass of the planets and the mass and composition of their atmospheres. Generally, only those planets of high mass were able to retain much of their atmospheres. Nitrogen, hydrogen, and helium are probably abundant, though not yet detected, on the heavier planets. Table 25-V also reveals a considerable range in the surface temperatures of the planets. The higher temperatures on the terrestrial planets also contributed to the loss of their atmospheres. 

In the region of the terrestrial planets, there may have been several thousand planetesimals of up to several hundred kilometres in diameter. During about ten million years, these united to form the four planets—Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars—which are close to the sun. Far outside the orbit of the planet Mars, the heavier planets were formed, in particular Jupiter and Saturn, the huge masses of which attracted all the hydrogen and helium around them. Apart from their cores, these planets have a similar composition to that of the sun. Between the planets Mars and Jupiter, there is a large zone which should really contain another planet. It... 

However, we need information on the atmospheric composition in order to plan and carry out simulation experiments. Although the four terrestrial planets originated from the same solar matter, their atmospheres are completely different. This is due to ... 

The special position of the Earth among the terrestrial planets is also shown by the availability of free water. On Venus and Mars, it has not until now been possible to detect any free water there is, however, geological and atmospheric evidence that both planets were either partially or completely covered with water during their formation phase. This can be deduced from certain characteristics of their surfaces and from the composition of their atmospheres. The ratio of deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) is particularly important here both Mars and Venus have a higher D/H ratio than that of the Earth. For Mars, the enrichment factor is around 5, and in the case of Venus, 100 (deBergh, 1993). 

The density estimates in Table 7.1 show a distinction between the structures of the planets, with Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars all having mean densities consistent with a rocky internal structure. The Earth-like nature of their composition, orbital periods and distance from the Sun enable these to be classified as the terrestrial planets. Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus have very low densities and are simple gas giants, perhaps with a very small rocky core. Neptune and Pluto clearly contain more dense materials, perhaps a mixture of gas, rock and ice. 

Magna T, Wiechert U, Halhday AN (2006) New constraints on the lithium isotope composition of the Moon and terrestrial planets. Earth Planet Sci Lett 243 336-353 Mardchal CN, Albarede E (2002) Ion-exchange fractionation of copper and zinc isotopes, Geochim Cosmochim Acta 66 1499-1509... 

Among the elements that make up rocks and minerals, silicon, magnesium, and iron are of almost equal abundance followed by sulfur, aluminum, calcium, sodium, nickel, and chromium. Two of the most common minerals in meteorites and in the terrestrial planets are olivine ((Mg,Fe)2Si04) and pyroxene ((Mg,Fe,Ca)Si03). The composition obtained by averaging these two minerals is very similar to the bulk solar system composition, so it is really no surprise that they are so abundant. 

Wanke, H. and Dreibus, G. (1988) Chemical composition and accretion history of terrestrial planets. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A325,545—557. This paper describes how chemical fractionations resulted from accretion of different materials to form the terrestrial planets. 

Bouvier, A., Vervoort, J. D. and Patchett, P. J. (2008) The Lu-Hf and Sm-Nd isotopic composition of CHUR constraints from unequilibrated chondrites and implications for the bulk compositions of the terrestrial planets. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 273, 48-57. 

Many asteroids are dry, as evidenced by meteorites in which water is virtually absent. These samples include many classes of chondrites, as well as melted chunks of the crusts, mantles, and cores of differentiated objects. Anhydrous bodies were important building blocks of the rocky terrestrial planets, and their chemical compositions reveal details of processes that occurred within our own planet on a larger scale. The distributions of these asteroids within the solar system also provide insights into their formation and evolution. 

The formation of the terrestrial planets is constrained by their bulk chemical compositions, but determining the compositions of entire planets is challenging. Because planets are differentiated into crust, mantle, and core, there is no place on or within a planet that has the composition of the entire body. Before considering the formation of the terrestrial planets, let s review how we go about estimating their bulk compositions. 

In estimating the bulk compositions of the other terrestrial planets, there are not nearly so many constraints. Determination of a planet s mass (obtained from its gravitational effect on the orbits of moons or nearby spacecraft) and volume (calculated from its diameter as measured by telescopes) enables the calculation of its mean density. A meaningful comparison of planet mean densities requires that we correct for the effects of self-compression due... 

Some estimates of the bulk chemical compositions of the other terrestrial planets are compared with the Earth s in Table 14.2. In this compilation, the compositions and relative proportions of the silicate (mantle plus crust) and core fractions are separated. 

Differentiation of other terrestrial planets must have varied in important ways from that of the Earth, because of differences in chemistry and conditions. For example, in Chapter 13, we learned that the crusts of the Moon and Mars are anorthosite and basalt, respectively - both very different from the crust of the Earth. N either has experienced recycling of crust back into the mantle, because of the absence of plate tectonics, and neither has sufficient water to help drive repeated melting events that produced the incompatible-element-rich continental crust (Taylor and McLennan, 1995). The mantles of the Moon and Mars are compositionally different from that of the Earth, although all are ultramafic. Except for these bodies, our understanding of planetary differentiation is rather unconstrained and details are speculative. 

Diagram on the left shows the composition of the solar nebula (abundances in wt. %). Diagram on the right expands metals (astronomical jargon) into ices (water, methane, and ammonia) and rock (all other remaining elements). Jupiter and Saturn formed mostly from nebular gases, Uranus and Neptune formed mostly from ices, and the terrestrial planets formed primarily from rock. 

How do the chemical compositions of the giant planets differ from those of the terrestrial planets, and from each other ... 

Righter, K., Drake, M. J. and Scott, E. R. D. (2006) Compositional relationships between meteorites and terrestrial planets. In Meteorites and the Early Solar System II, eds. Lauretta, D. S. and McSween, H. Y., Jr. Tucson University of Arizona Press, pp. 803-828. 

Hazen et al 1978), in accord with the A a R 5 relationship (eq. 2.17). The positions of the 1 micron and 2 micron bands (cf. fig. 10.5) provide a powerful means of identifying pyroxene structure-types and compositions on surfaces of terrestrial planets by telescopic reflectance spectral measurements discussed in chapter 10. 

Reflectance spectroscopy has proven to be the most powerful and versatile remote-sensing technique for determining surface mineralogy, chemical compositions and lithologies of planetary objects, as well as constituents of their atmospheres. Table 10.1 summarizes information that has been deduced for the terrestrial planets based on spectral properties of light in the visible and near-infrared regions reflected from their surfaces. 

Compositions of terrestrial planets. Geochemical data derived from lunar samples returned by the Apollo and Luna missions to the Moon, in situ chemical... 

Origin of the bulk planet composition volatile delivery and terrestrial Mg/Si ratio... 

There is evidence from chondrites that the solar nebula was well mixed between 0.1 and 10 AU during its first several million years of the evolution, as shown by the homogeneity in concentrations of many isotopes of refractory elements (Boss 2004 Chapter 9). This is likely caused by the evaporation and recondensation of solids in the very hot inner nebula, followed by outward transport due to turbulent diffusion and angular momentum removal. Materials out of which terrestrial planets and asteroids are built have been heated to temperatures above 1300 K and are thus depleted in volatile elements. The inner solar nebula, with some exceptions, does not retain memories of the pristine interstellar medium (ISM) chemical composition (Palme 2001 Trieloff Palme 2006). 

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