Earth Venus Mars Tales LECTURE

ComparisonofEarth,Venus,Mars
Toprovidecontextofhowuniqueornotourplanetearthis,ithelpsto
haveabasicknowledgeofthepropertiesofourtwonearest
neighboringplanets.
Whatisthebiggestdifferencesbetweenthesethreeplanets?
Venus,earth,mars
Makingtheinnerrockyplanets
Planets formed in <50 Ma from proto-planetary nebula 4.57 Ga ago; this age
is oldest age found in meteorites. Note that the suns radiant output has
increase 30% since the suns fusion engine began at 4.57 Ga; so, the planets
surface temperatures were cooler early on (all other things equal).
Equilibrium condensation nebula model predicted all three planets had large
amounts of water from de-gassing of hydrous minerals from mantle and late-
veneer from comet impacts.
WhathappenedtoMars?
Mars had liquid/gas/solid water cycle with easily seen rivers and maybe
oceans first 500 Ma of history (maybe episodically turning warming events
latter on). But, then its liquid iron core solidified due to cooling and hence
the planetary magnetic field disappeared which lead to spallation of the
atmosphere into space by impact of the solar wind.
Also, smaller internal planet pressure mean a solid inner core didnt grow
to stabilize a magnetic dynamo. Also, no formation of ozone layer to
protect water from ultra-violet dissociation. Also, the gravity of Mars (wrt
earth) also permits water to be spallated easier from the top of the
atmosphere.
Cratering statistic show that mars is an old

surface (4 Ga) and never had plate tectonics
and is a one plate planet. This is because it
cooled off very quickly due to its smaller
diameter with respect to earth.
WhathappenedtoVenus?
On Venus, the atmosphere is so dense with CO2 that light goes up and down and up
and down, effectively heating the ground many times over so that the temperature
goes from 297 K to 737 K! Thus, the Greenhouse Effect increases the surface
temperature on Venus by 440 K. How did this happen?
Venus shows no evidence in its landforms that manifest the flow of liquid water.
But, it has a huge deuterium (heavy water) anomaly that is consistent with a
primordial ocean that was boiled away into outer space after the planet hot-boxed to
800 deg F. Venus is only 1/3 closer to the sun and should only be about 90 deg F
warmer than earth due to being closer to the sun. Why Venus hot-boxed is maybe
because the 90 deg higher temperature caused the liquid water to evaporate which
means the CO2 in the atmosphere was not removed via precipitation of carbonate
rocks, and buried non-oxidized biomass, as on the earth.
Cratering statistics of Venus show the surface is 300-800 Ma old: call it 600
Ma. The best model to explain this young surface age (Moon and Mars
have 4 Ga old surfaces) is that Venuss volcanism increase by a thousand
times at 600 Ma which erased all the older craters. This would suggest and
episodic form of convective motion of the planets surface.
WhathappenedtoEarth?
A spectacular difference between the early history of Earth and Venus is that the Earth
was struck in a glancing impact by a Mars-size bolide after 90% formation. The rubble
thrown into space formed the moon; this impact-origin model explains the very large
angular moment of the earth-moon system (and other things). Note while the Earth spins
once a day, Venus only spins once every 244 days. The Earth-moon angular momentum
stabilizes earths spin axis which helps stabilized climate extremes and maybe facilitate
origin of life.
The Earth formed oceans of liquid water by 4 Ga; Water is ultimate biochemical solvent.
Why did the earth not hot-box due to greenhouse gas effects made by large quantities of
CO2 and water vapor in its atmosphere ? The stability of liquid water on Earth permitted
the carbon cycle to operate to transfer the atmospheric CO2 into carbonate rocks via
precipitation in the liquid water oceans. Also, the moon forming boiled impact blew away
the original CO2 rich atmosphere (albeit, what atmosphere reformed after impact is
difficult question). Less CO2 in atmosphere means less trapping of outgoing infrared
radiation == cooler planet!
Liquid water was subducted into mantle to weaken the flow strength of mantle rocks so
that plate tectonics could evolve.
Organic based life form developed; albeit, the biologic seed could have come from
Mars/Venus via meteorite transfer. Why here? Liquid water seem neccessary.
SUN:ElectromagneticenergyfromSunwarmsearthandpermitswater
splittingviaphotosynthesistomakeOxygenfuelandcarbohydratefuel
ConvectionintheSundrivenbyFusion
Planetarysizecomparison
VENUSTopography:30,000footvolcanomountainsandbigRifts
VenussurfacefromSovietVenera lander
VenusandMoon
Volcanicpancakes(likeRhyolitedomesonearth?)
CloudsofVenus(infrared,heatband)
Atmosphericcomposition
99%carbondioxide
Veryverylittlewatervapor
Wastheiranoriginalwater
oceanthatdiffusedintospace?
WhydidVenusloseitsoriginal
waterandturnintoa
greenhousehotbox.
About800degFatsurfaceand
80timesearthsatmospheric
pressure.
Earth(lotsaliquidwater)
Area:70%oceansand30%continents
Thebluewaterplanet
Hydrologiccyclebased
onliquid/gasformsof
water.
Waterevaporates.
Cloudscondense.
Rainfalls.
Waterflowstoseas.
Rinseandrepeat.
Solidform(ice)also
important.
LiquidwaterandLife
Waterisbestsolventthat
facilitiesbiochemicalreactions.
Yourcellsaremostlyallsalty
water.
Mars:cold,windy,dead(?)now,butfirst0.5Gaitwaswet,
warmandverdant(microballife?)
SurfaceMars
MarsTopography(km)
OlympusMons(largestvolcano)
Flowof
water?
CautionaryTaleof3Planets
Theverdantliquidoceanlifesupportingplanetearthmaybeananomaly.
Venuslostitswaterandgreenhousedtobecomehotdryanddead.
Marslostitsatmosphereanddrieduptobecomecoldwindyanddead.
Withrespectthegoldilocksbedtestingmodelofplanetarytectonics:Marsistoohard
(thicklithosphere),Venusistoosoft(thinlithosphere),buttheEarthisjustright(30
150kmthicklithosphere).

Earth Venus Mars Tales LECTURE

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ComparisonofEarth,Venus,Mars

Cratering statistic show that mars is an old

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