Computing Fault Displacements from Surface Deformations

Simplex is a computer program that calculates locations and displacements of subterranean faults from data on Earth-surface deformations. The calculation involves inversion of a forward model (given a point source representing a fault, a forward model calculates the surface deformations) for displacements, and strains caused by a fault located in isotropic, elastic half-space. The inversion involves the use of nonlinear, multiparameter estimation techniques. The input surface-deformation data can be in multiple formats, with absolute or differential positioning. The input data can be derived from multiple sources, including interferometric synthetic-aperture radar, the Global Positioning System, and strain meters. Parameters can be constrained or free. Estimates can be calculated for single or multiple faults. Estimates of parameters are accompanied by reports of their covariances and uncertainties. Simplex has been tested extensively against forward models and against other means of inverting geodetic data and seismic observations. This wor

The Nominal Range of Rocky Planet Masses, Radii, Surface Gravities and Bulk Densities

The two primary observable quantities of an exoplanet--its mass and radius--alone are not sufficient to probe a rocky exoplanet's interior composition and mineralogy. To overcome this, host-star abundances of the primary planet-building elements (Mg, Si, Fe) are typically used as a proxy for the planet's bulk composition. The majority of small exoplanet hosts, however, do not have available abundance data. Here we present the open-source ExoPlex mass-radius-composition solver. Unlike previous open-source mass-radius solvers, ExoPlex calculates the core chemistry and equilibrium mantle mineralogy for a bulk composition, including effects of mantle FeO content, core light elements and surface water/ice. We utilize ExoPlex to calculate the planetary radii, surface gravities and bulk densities for 10$^6$ model planets up to 2 R$_\oplus$ across these geochemistries, adopting the distribution of FGK stellar abundances to estimate of the range of bulk exoplanet compositions. We outline the $99.7\%$ distribution of radii, surface gravity and bulk densities that define planets as "nominally rocky." Planets outside this range require compositions outside those expected from stellar abundance data, likely making them either Fe-enriched super-Mercuries, or volatile-enriched mini-Neptunes. We apply our classification scheme to a sample of 85 well-resolved exoplanets without available host-star abundances. We estimate only 9 planets are within the "nominally rocky planet zone" at $>70\%$ confidence, while $\sim20\%$ and $\sim30\%$ of this sample can be reasonably classified as super-Mercuries or volatile-rich, respectively. Our results provide observers with a self-consistent way to broadly classify a planet as likely rocky, Mercury-like or volatile-enriched, using mass and radius measurements alone.Comment: 41 pages, 21 figures, 2 tables. Accepted to Ap

Transport of water into the lower mantle: Role of stishovite

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95319/1/jgrb13563.pd