Obliquity histories of Earth and Mars: Influence of inertial and dissipative core-mantle coupling

For both the Earth and Mars, secular variations in the angular separation of the spin axis from the orbit normal are suspected of driving major climatic changes. There is considerable interest in determining the amplitude and timing of these obliquity variations. If the orientation of the orbital plane were inertially fixed, and the planet were to act as a rigid body in it response to precessional torques, the spin axis would simply precess around the orbit at a fixed obliquity and at a uniform angular rate. The precession rate parameter depends on the principal moments of inertia and rotation rate of the perturbed body, and on the gravitational masses and semiminor axes of the perturbing bodies. For Mars, the precession rate is not well known, but probably lies in the interval 8 to 10 arcsec/year. Gravitational interactions between the planets lead to secular motions of the orbit planes. In the rigid body case, the spin axis still attempts to precess about the instantaneous orbit normal, but now the obliquity varies. The hydrostatic figure of a planet represents a compromise between gravitation, which attempts to attain spherical symmetry, and rotation, which prefers cylindrical symmetry. Due to their higher mean densities the cores of the Earth and Mars will be more nearly spherical than the outer layers of these planets. On short time scales it is appropriate to consider the core to be an inviscid fluid constrained to move with the ellipsoidal region bounded by the rigid mantle. The inertial coupling provided by this mechanism is effective whenever the ellipticicy of the container exceeds the ratio of precessional to rotational rates. If the mantle were actually rigid, this would be an extremely effective type of coupling. However, on sufficiently long time scales, the mantle will deform viscously and can accommodate the motions of the core fluid. A fundamentally different type of coupling is provided by electromagnetic or viscous torques. This type of coupling is likely to be most important on longer time scales. In each case, the mantle exerts an equal and opposite torque on the core

Geodynamic contributions to global climatic change

Orbital and rotational variations perturb the latitudinal and seasonal pattern of incident solar radiation, producing major climatic change on time scales of 10(exp 4)-10(exp 6) years. The orbital variations are oblivious to internal structure and processes, but the rotational variations are not. A program of investigation whose objective would be to explore and quantify three aspects of orbital, rotational, and climatic interactions is described. An important premise of this investigation is the synergism between geodynamics and paleoclimate. Better geophysical models of precessional dynamics are needed in order to accurately reconstruct the radiative input to climate models. Some of the paleoclimate proxy records contain information relevant to solid Earth processes, on time scales which are difficult to constrain otherwise. Specific mechanisms which will be addressed include: (1) climatic consequences of deglacial polar motion; and (2) precessional and climatic consequences of glacially induced perturbations in the gravitational oblateness and partial decoupling of the mantle and core. The approach entails constructing theoretical models of the rotational, deformational, radiative, and climatic response of the Earth to known orbital perturbations, and comparing these with extensive records of paleoclimate proxy data. Several of the mechanisms of interest may participate in previously unrecognized feed-back loops in the climate dynamics system. A new algorithm for estimating climatically diagnostic locations and seasons from the paleoclimate time series is proposed

Orbital, Rotational, and Climatic Interactions

The report of an international meeting on the topic of Orbital, Rotational, and Climatic Interactions, which was held 9-11 Jul. 1991 at the Johns Hopkins University is presented. The meeting was attended by 22 researchers working on various aspects of orbital and rotational dynamics, paleoclimate data analysis and modeling, solid-Earth deformation studies, and paleomagnetic analyses. The primary objective of the workshop was to arrive at a better understanding of the interactions between the orbital, rotational, and climatic variations of the Earth. This report contains a brief introduction and 14 contributed papers which cover most of the topics discussed at the meeting

A lunar density model consistent with topographic, gravitational, librational, and seismic data

A series of models of the lunar interior are derived from topographic, gravitational, librational, and seismic data. The librational parameters and low-degree gravity harmonics result primarily from surface height variations and only secondarily from lateral density variations. The moon departs from isostasy, even for the low-degree harmonics, with a maximum superisostatic stress of 200 bars under the major mascon basins. The mean crustal thicknesses under different physiographic regions are: mascons, 30–35 km; irregular maria, 50–60 km; and highlands, 90–110 km. A possible composition consistent with our model is an anorthositic crust, underlain by a predominantly forsterite upper mantle which grades into a refractory rich lower mantle surrounding a pyrrhotite core

A dynamic model of Venus's gravity field

Unlike Earth, long wavelength gravity anomalies and topography correlate well on Venus. Venus's admittance curve from spherical harmonic degree 2 to 18 is inconsistent with either Airy or Pratt isostasy, but is consistent with dynamic support from mantle convection. A model using whole mantle flow and a high viscosity near surface layer overlying a constant viscosity mantle reproduces this admittance curve. On Earth, the effective viscosity deduced from geoid modeling increases by a factor of 300 from the asthenosphere to the lower mantle. These viscosity estimates may be biased by the neglect of lateral variations in mantle viscosity associated with hot plumes and cold subducted slabs. The different effective viscosity profiles for Earth and Venus may reflect their convective styles, with tectonism and mantle heat transport dominated by hot plumes on Venus and by subducted slabs on Earth. Convection at degree 2 appears much stronger on Earth than on Venus. A degree 2 convective structure may be unstable on Venus, but may have been stabilized on Earth by the insulating effects of the Pangean supercontinental assemblage

High diversity and morphological convergence among melanised fungi from rock formations in the Central Mountain System of Spain

Melanised fungi were isolated from rock surfaces in the Central Mountain System of Spain. Two hundred sixty six isolates were recovered from four geologically and topographically distinct sites. Microsatellite-primed PCR techniques were used to group isolates into genotypes assumed to represent species. One hundred and sixty three genotypes were characterised from the four sites. Only five genotypes were common to two or more sites. Morphological and molecular data were used to characterise and identify representative strains, but morphology rarely provided a definitive identification due to the scarce differentiation of the fungal structures or the apparent novelty of the isolates. Vegetative states of fungi prevailed in culture and in many cases could not be reliably distinguished without sequence data. Morphological characters that were widespread among the isolates included scarce micronematous conidial states, endoconidia, mycelia with dark olive-green or black hyphae, and mycelia with torulose, isodiametric or moniliform hyphae whose cells develop one or more transverse and/or oblique septa. In many of the strains, mature hyphae disarticulated, suggesting asexual reproduction by a thallic micronematous conidiogenesis or by simple fragmentation. Sequencing of the internal transcribed spacers (ITS1, ITS2) and 5.8S rDNA gene were employed to investigate the phylogenetic affinities of the isolates. According to ITS sequence alignments, the majority of the isolates could be grouped among four main orders of Pezizomycotina: Pleosporales, Dothideales, Capnodiales, and Chaetothyriales. Ubiquitous known soil and epiphytic fungi species were generally absent from the rock surfaces. In part, the mycota of the rock surfaces shared similar elements with melanised fungi from plant surfaces and fungi described from rock formations in Europe and Antarctica. The possibility that some of the fungi were lichen mycobionts or lichen parasites could not be ruled out

Lunar and Solar Torques on the Oceanic Tides

A general framework for calculating lunar and solar torques on the oceanic tides is developed in terms of harmonic constituents. Axial torques and their associated angular momentum and earth-rotation variations are deduced from recent satellite-altimeter and satellite-tracking tide solutions. Torques on the prograde components of the tide produce the familiar secular braking of the rotation rate. The estimated secular acceleration is approximately -1300 sec/century(sup 2) (less 4% after including atmospheric tides); the implied rate of change in the length of day is 2.28 milliseconds/century. Torques on the retrograde components of the tide produce periodic rotation variations at twice the tidal frequency. Interaction torques, e.g. solar torques on lunar tides, generate a large suite of rotation-rate variations at sums and differences of the original tidal frequencies. These are estimated for periods from 18.6 years to quarter-diurnal. At subdaily periods the angular momentum variations are 5 to 6 orders of magnitude smaller than the variations caused by ocean tidal currents

An Inversion of Gravity and Topography for Mantle and Crustal Structure on Mars

Analysis of the gravity and topography of Mars presently provides our primary quantitative constraints on the internal structure of Mars. We present an inversion of the long-wavelength (harmonic degree less than or equal to 10) gravity and topography of Mars for lateral variations of mantle temperature and crustal thickness. Our formulation incorporates both viscous mantle flow (which most prior studies have neglected) and isostatically compensated density anomalies in the crust and lithosphere. Our nominal model has a 150-km-thick high-viscosity surface layer over an isoviscous mantle, with a core radius of 1840 km. It predicts lateral temperature variations of up to a few hundred degrees Kelvin relative to the mean mantle temperature, with high temperature under Tharsis and to a lesser extent under Elysium and cool temperatures elsewhere. Surprisingly, the model predicts crustal thinning beneath Tharsis. If correct, this implies that thinning of the crust by mantle shear stresses dominates over thickening of the crust by volcanism. The major impact basins (Hellas, Argyre, Isidis, Chryse, and Utopia) are regions of crustal thinning, as expected. Utopia is also predicted to be a region of hot mantle, which is hard to reconcile with the surface geology. An alternative model for Utopia treats it as a mascon basin. The Utopia gravity anomaly is consistent with the presence of a 1.2 to 1.6 km thick layer of uncompensated basalt, in good agreement with geologic arguments about the amount of volcanic fill in this area. The mantle thermal structure is the dominant contributor to the observed geoid in our inversion. The mantle also dominates the topography at the longest wavelengths, but shorter wavelengths (harmonic degrees greater than or equal to 4) are dominated by the crustal structure. Because of the uncertainty about the appropriate numerical values for some of the model's input parameters, we have examined the sensitivity of the model results to the planetary structural model (core radius and core and mantle densities), the mantle's viscosity stratification, and the mean crustal thickness. The model results are insensitive to the specific thickness or viscosity contrast of the high-viscosity surface layer and to the mean crustal thickness in the range 25 to 100 km. Models with a large core radius or with an upper mantle low-viscosity zone require implausibly large lateral variations in mantle temperature

Using Geological Implications of a Physical Libration to Constrain Enceladus' Libration State

Observations of Enceladus' south pole revealed large rifts in the crust, called "tiger stripes", which exhibit higher temperatures than the surrounding terrain and are likely sources of observed eruptions. Tidal stress may periodically open the tiger stripe rifts, controlling the timing and location of eruptions. Moreover, shear motion along rifts may produce the heat to drive eruptions