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Title:
The partial volatilization of Mercury
Authors:
Cameron, A. G. W.
Affiliation:
AA(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA)
Publication:
Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035), vol. 64, Nov. 1985, p. 285-294. (Icarus Homepage)
Publication Date:
11/1985
Category:
Lunar and Planetary Exploration
Origin:
STI
NASA/STI Keywords:
Mercury (Planet), Planetary Evolution, Planetary Mantles, Planetary Structure, Protoplanets, Vaporizing, Enstatite, Planetary Composition, Planetary Mass, Planetary Temperature, Solar System, Volatility
DOI:
10.1016/0019-1035(85)90091-0
Bibliographic Code:
1985Icar...64..285C

Abstract

During recent years research on the primitive solar nebula has followed two main themes: (1) Very early in the development of the nebula conditions probably favored the occurrence of major gaseous instabilities leading to the formation of giant gaseous protoplanets, but the rapid rise of the external temperature soon evaporated the envelopes of these protoplanets, possibly leaving behind precipitated solids which formed the cores and mantles of the terrestrial planets. (2) Models of the nebula indicate a later stage when conditions in the inner Solar System became very hot; at the position of Mercury the temperature was probably in the range 2500-3500 K. This leads to the hypothesis that the original protomercury was a body substantially more massive than the present planet and of normal composition, but that when it was immersed in the high-temperature field of the dissipating solar nebula, most of the rocky mantle was vaporized and mixed into the solar nebula gases and carried away by them. This hypothesis is investigated in the present paper. For simplicity the vaporization of a mantle composed of enstatite, MgSiO3, was computed for a planet with 2.25 the mass of Mercury at a temperature of 3000 K. It is argued that the mantle could probably be largely removed in the available time of 30,000 yrs. Subsequent accretion would restore some magnesium silicates to the mantle of the planet.
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