Planetary Accretion - gradual accumulation of mass through collisions and gravity in certain region of the disk - impacts can

alter habitability of planetary body

Chondrules - molten material composite rock, relatively unaltered from when solar system formed - Carbonaceous chondrites - has lots of volatile compounds, H20, organics
-​ Early sample of solar dust, similar composition to the Sun
-​ Ordinary - less volatile compounds, similar to primary make up of the planet Earth, K/U ratio can determine overall retention of volatile materials
-​ Achondrites- rocky materials lacking chondrites - Differing bodies that were broken apart from collision
-​ Difference between asteroids and Planets
-​ Planetary Differentiation
-​ Rocky material accreating through collusion
-​ Heat energy and radiogenic material form elemental decay, which results in a planetesimal
-​ Heat will separate it into heavier and lighter elements
-​ Leads to layered structure
-​ Stony Achondrites come from crust of differentiated bodies
-​ Iron meteorites come from the core of a differentiated body
-​ Pallasites come from near the core
-​ Earth Breakdown - Core - Fe, Ni Mantle - Fe/Mg silicates - Mg2SiO4, MgFeSiO4, FeSiO3, MgSiO, atmosphere and crust - N2, H2O, O2, CO2, CH4
-​ Pressure - 350 million gPA, ~ 5400C, close to the temperature of sun surface core to mantle is 2000 miles - drive to core, 6400 km
-​ Body Waves - seismic waves from earthquakes that travel through Earth
-​ Primary waves (p waves) - longitudinal, goes through both sounds and liquids, faster than S
-​ S waves (secondary waves, s waves) - only through solids, transverse propagation
-​ Both are faster in denser materials, when they are bent when the speed of light that they are in atm
Continental Drift - Pangaea supercontinent all of them fit together, continuous land masses and fossil distributions
Wagener 1910s - thought continental masses move through oceanic crust, but no coherent mechanism defined
Seafloor spreading - mid-ocean ridges all over earth, earthquakes concentrated at the plate boundaries, so new oceanic crust at the mid ocean ridges and spreads laterally
-​ These new minerals (FE OXIDES) are magnetic and align with imposed magnetic field
Earth has a magnetic field, magnetic reversal - polarity of earth’s magnetic field reverses around every 450,000 years
Oceanic crust acquires polarity of the magnetic field, can use magnetic reversal to map the production of ocean crust at divergent margins, age of crust is progressively older when moving away from mid ocean
ridges, rifting leads to continental breakup, formation of ocean and crust
Subduction zones - oceanic crust is denser than continental crust, denser oceanic crust will subduct underneath less dense crust, lots of earthquakes at that area, if two continental crust pieces meet at a
convergent margin, mountain building and uplift occurs
Earth surface is steady state - rate of crust at divergent margins are balanced by convergent margins
Plate Tectonic Theory - earth’s lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) is organized into rigid plates along plate margins, creates destroys or processes
piece of earth crust
​ Mantle convection - engine of tectonics mantle is solid, not liquid
3 ways to transfer heat - 1. Radiation, EM energy, 2 conduction particle to particle, 3 convection heat transfer by mass motion of a fluid
Rayleigh number predicts whether convection is occurring or not
Mantle/plate tectonics 1. Control composition of atmosphere 2. Regulate global climate on long timescale 3. Recycle nutrients 4. Capable of catalyzing
mass extinction 5 drives major evolutionary and ecological changes
Venus does not have plate tectonics, but has large flat broken crust called campi - Europa has plate tectonics

Atmosphere - getting an atmosphere requires direct accretion of gas from solar nebula, volcanic outgassing which means melting of solid rock,
expulsion of vovlatile materials, or later volatile delivery from comets or asteroids (comets have high water), or terraforming - when life dramatically
alters composition of planets atmosphere - photosynthesis
Losing an atmosphere - thermal escape - when the velocity of a gas molecule in upper atmosphere exceeds the escape velocity of the planet, then the
molecule goes to space -

Smaller gas molecules have higher kinetic velocities - small mass is high kinetic
velocity, then lighter molecules like H2 are more likely to escape the atmosphere,
but o2 and other heavier molecules will not likely escape

Higher temperatures will make more gases likely to escape,

Lower temperatures will make gases less likel to escape

Escape velocity - based on mass and temperature of planet

Earth has lots of oxygen because of gradual H2 escape, let o2 build over time
NON THERMAL ESCAPE - solar wind- stream of charged particles of protons
electrons and ionized atoms from the sun- travels million mph with enough energy to ionize atmospheric gases - strips planetary atmospheres,
magnetic fields are effective at shielding solar wind
IMPACT EROSION - impacts can lead to the loss of atmospheric gases if collision is sufficiently energetic

LECTURE 15 LOSING ATMOSPHERE

1.​ Thermal escape
a.​ Hotter gas = higher kinetic velocity
b.​ Higher temperatures will make gases more likely to escape from atmosphere
c.​ Lower temperatures will make gases less likely to escape from the atmosphere
d.​ Kinetic velocity is determined by the molecular mass and the temperature of the gas, lighter gases have higher velocities, gases at higher temperatures attain higher velocities
e.​ Escape velocity is determined by mass and temperature of planet - Earth’s oxygen atmosphere = gradual H2 escape causes O2 to build up over time
2.​ Non thermal escape (solar wind)
a.​ Solar Wind travels more than 1 million mph and ionizes atmospheric gases, gradually stripping planetary atmoshperes.
b.​ Magnetic Fields shield solar wind
3.​ non thermal escape (impact erosion)
a.​ Loss of atmosphere gases due to impact if the collision is sufficiently energetic
-​ Thermal escape and volcanic outgassing balance atmosphere
-​ Planetary energy balance = energy in = energy out

Wien’s displacement law - as temperature increases, peak wavelength decreases

Solar Flux decreases as a function of the distance from the star squared

Absorbed energy depends on the planet cross-sectional area

-​ Depends on area and Albedo, clouds are high albedo
-​ Volcanic aerosol particles increase albedo
-​ Ice has high albedo
Ice- Albedo feedback:
Polar amplification - net radiation balance produces larger
changes in temperatures near the poles

Stefan-boltzman Law - energy flux depends on the temperature

Earth emits energy by heating up until equilibrates with energy that it
receives from the star

Greenhouse gases absorb outgoing energy - H20, CO2, CH4, N20,

O3, all absorb energy at specific wavelengths
Our atmosphere is transparent to light/shortwave radiation coming from the Sun, but opaque to infrared radiation leaving Earth. Outgoing infrared radiation is absorbed by
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and re radiated into space and to the ground, heating surface.

Need to account for Flux, find that Tplanet Average = 288K

LECTURE 16 - ENERGY BALANCE

MAIN GASES - N2, O2, Argon - TRANSPARENT TO INCOMING AND OUTGOING ENERGY
GREENHOUSE GASES - H20, CO2, CH4, N20, O3 - ABSORB OUTGOING ENERGY, absorb outgoing energy at specific wavelengths
The transparency of Earth’s atmosphere varies with wavelength.

To some effect, Greenhouse is good, but it can be a problem for life if it’s too much

Sun is halfway through life, luminosity will increase over time, which will increase earth’s energy balance

Perturbation - deviation of a system from its normal (or initial) state due to an outside influence on the system
Stability: ability of a system to resist large changes from its normal state
Positive Feedback:▪ The results of a change to a system act to increase the initial change - Albedo - Ice Feedback System
▪ “X produces Y, and Y produces more X...”
▪ Promotes or accelerates perturbation from
initial state
▪ Tends to destabilize a system
Negative feedback: Carbonate Silicate Weathering
▪ The results of a change to a system counteract
the initial change
▪ “X produces Y, and Y reduces production of X...”
▪ Promotes return to the initial state after
perturbation
▪ Tends to stabilize a system
Carbonate Silicate Weathering
1.​ Carbon dioxide in atmosphere dissolves in rainwater to create carbonic acid Co2 +H2o = H2Co3
2.​ Acid in rainwater reacts with continental crust, creates dissolved ions that are transferred to rivers
3.​ Dissolved ions are carried to the ocean by rivers
a.​ Will be used to create carbonate shells and skeletons
4.​ Reactions in seawater form calcium carbonate minerals that become buried at the seafloor
-​ The net effect is the conversion of CO2 in the atmosphere to solid calcium carbonate at the seafloor – and removal of CO2 from the atmosphere
How does this represent a ‘thermostat’?
(1) Atmospheric CO2 level controls temperature
(2) Weathering reactions are faster at higher
temperatures
(3) Higher surface temperature → more evaporation
→ more riverine runoff → faster transfer of
dissolved carbon to the ocean → increased
removal of CO2 atmosphere

Volcaones are long term source of CO2 levels