Journal
ANNUAL REVIEW OF EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCES, VOL 40
Volume 40, Issue -, Pages 113-139Publisher
ANNUAL REVIEWS
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-earth-042711-105503
Keywords
accretion; planetesimal; differentiation; volatile; crust formation; atmospheric degassing
Funding
- Division Of Astronomical Sciences
- Direct For Mathematical & Physical Scien [0747154] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Theory and observations point to the occurrence of magma ponds or oceans in the early evolution of terrestrial planets and inmany early-accreting planetesimals. The apparent ubiquity of melting during giant accretionary impacts suggests that silicate and metallic material may be processed through multiple magma oceans before reaching solidity in a planet. The processes of magma ocean formation and solidification, therefore, strongly influence the earliest compositional differentiation and volatile content of the terrestrial planets, and they form the starting point for cooling to clement, habitable conditions and for the onset of thermally driven mantle convection and plate tectonics. This review focuses on evidence for magma oceans on planetesimals and planets and on research concerning the processes of compositional differentiation in the silicate magma ocean, distribution and degassing of volatiles, and cooling.
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