Questions tagged [planetary-science]
The multi-disciplinary study of the geomorphology, geology, chemistry, meteorology, oceanography, hydrology, astronomy and astrophysics of the planets and other objects within the solar system.
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Wasn't Earth a magma ocean before core-mantle differentiation?
I've always thought that the process of planetary accretion was energetic enough to keep the proto-Earth entirely molten, and the subsequent evolution of the planet (the formation of the crust, etc...)...
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How much does the biosphere contribute to Earth's entropy production?
Papers like 1, 2, etc. and the work of Axel Kleidon (e.g. 3) suggest that the the biosphere increases the production of entropy of Earth but I'd like to know if we could quantify this in a simple way. ...
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How could the solar wind cause strange magnetic pulses on Mars at midnight?
24-Feb-2020 NASA News item A Year of Surprising Science From NASA's InSight Mars Mission says:
A new understanding of Mars is beginning to emerge, thanks to the first year of NASA's InSight lander ...
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Mars' strange magnetic pulses at midnight; besides the solar wind what are other possible causes?
24-Feb-2020 NASA News item A Year of Surprising Science From NASA's InSight Mars Mission says:
A new understanding of Mars is beginning to emerge, thanks to the first year of NASA's InSight lander ...
- 6,952
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Can a cryovolcanic eruption be as powerful as a normal volcanic eruption?
The most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history was the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, an explosion equivalent to 33 billion tons of TNT.
Is there any way a cryovolcanic eruption could be as ...
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Did Theia collide directly with proto-Earth?
I was learning about the formation of Earth on Kahn Academy where it was mentioned that a protoplanet named Theia had a glancing impact with the earth and formed the moon. It seems like there is also ...
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How long for tectonic plates to develop from a planetary, molten planetary surface?
On Earth or an Earth-like planet, how long does it take for a molten surface to solidify into planetary crust, and how long does it take for that crust to develop into tectonic plates?
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Puzzle using relative dating principles
This isn't directly looking at a real life ecological example kind of thing, but it requires knowledge of relative dating, so I thought I would come here.
Here is what was told:
-"Worms" (curved ...
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Moist adiabatic lapse rate
I asked this question in the Physics SE but it still lies unanswered. Hopefully Earth Science SE is more knowledgeable in the matter.
Wikipedia gives the following equation to calculate the moist ...
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Calculate original volatile content of a degassed mineral
A lunar apatite sample has a relatively low OH content of 5 ppm, but a an elevated D𝛿 of 11,000‰ (vs. SMOW). Assuming that water had an original figure of around -100‰ or so, how do I estimate the ...
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What would the climate and greenhouse effects be if the oceans contained half as much water?
Imagine the Earth contains 50% the water it currently contains. The oceans are still located in the same place, but they are much shallower. How would this affect the climate and the climate stability ...
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Displacement-Length scaling relationship on extraterrestrial faults
Faults on Earth share a similar displacement/length ratio of around 0.03 which scales from very small faults to very large faults. Would this apply to faults on other planets and if so, are there any ...
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Minimum Surface Water for Plate Tectonics?
There is good evidence that the presence of water on a planet's surface is necessary for that planet to have plate tectonics. My question is this: Do we know if there is a minimum amount of surface ...
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Would the Gaia hypothesis have any practical use?
I recently stumbled upon the Gaia hypothesis, which briefly states that the Earth itself is a living organism.
I am wondering: Would this hypothesis have any practical use? Does it make any ...
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What is a weather system?
I heard on Star Talk Radio that Jupiter has weather systems larger than Earth so I was just curious to know what the definition of a weather system is exactly.
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Planetary surface temperature from first principles
How can you calculate planetary surface temperatures from first principles? The obvious application is for Earth, with a surface temperature of $288$K. I want a calculation with no fudge factors (i.e.,...
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Earth-like conditions on Titan: is it feasible that Titan once had seas and lakes of liquid water?
Given that: 1) Four billion years ago Saturn was hotter and radiated strongly in the infra-red.
. . . . . . . . . 2) Like Earth's moon, Titan was then closer to its planet.
. . . . . . . . . 3) Like ...
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