MIT Libraries logoDSpace@MIT

MIT
View Item 
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Libraries
  • MIT Theses
  • Undergraduate Theses
  • View Item
  • DSpace@MIT Home
  • MIT Libraries
  • MIT Theses
  • Undergraduate Theses
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

The Mercurian magma ocean, first crust, and implications for planetary formation mechanisms

Author(s)
Brown, Stephanie Marie,Ph.D.Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Thumbnail
DownloadFull printable version (2.698Mb)
Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.
Advisor
Linda T. Elkins-Tanton.
Terms of use
MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The size of the Mercurian core and the low ferrous iron bearing silicate content of its crust offer constraints on formation models for the planet. Here we consider a bulk composition that allows endogenous formation of the planet's large core, and by processing the mantle through a magma ocean, would produce a low-iron crust. More Earth-like bulk compositions require silicate removal, perhaps by a giant impact, to create the planet's large core fraction. The earliest crusts expected in a giant impact scenario are discussed in comparison to the endogenous model. We find that the endogenous model can produce a large core with either a plagioclase flotation crust or a low-iron magmatic crust. For the giant impact model, in the absence of a plagioclase flotation crust, the impact may be constrained to occur within about 300,000 years of the planet's initial fractionating magma ocean, at which time the giant impact can remove most of the silicate iron oxide budget of the planet before gravitational overturn carries it into the deep planetary interior. Thus a specific bulk composition is required to make Mercury endogenously, but specific timing of events is required to make it exogenously through giant impact. Measurements taken by the MESSENGER mission, when compared to predictions given here, may help resolve Mercury's formation process.
Description
Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, June 2010.
 
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
 
Includes bibliographical references (pages 29-33).
 
Date issued
2010
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/114380
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.

Collections
  • Undergraduate Theses

Browse

All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

My Account

Login

Statistics

OA StatisticsStatistics by CountryStatistics by Department
MIT Libraries
PrivacyPermissionsAccessibilityContact us
MIT
Content created by the MIT Libraries, CC BY-NC unless otherwise noted. Notify us about copyright concerns.