The effects of planetary and stellar parameters on brittle lithospheric thickness
Abstract
The thickness of the brittle lithosphere—the outer portion of a planetary body that fails via fracturing—plays a key role in the geological processes of that body. The properties of both a planet and its host star can influence that thickness, and the potential range of those properties exceeds what we see in the Solar System. To understand how planetary and stellar parameters influence brittle lithospheric thickness generally, we modeled a comprehensive suite of combinations of planetary mass, surface and mantle temperature, heat flux, and strain rate. Surface temperature is the dominant factor governing the thickness of the brittle layer: smaller and older planets generally have thick brittle lithospheres, akin to those of Mercury and Mars, whereas larger, younger planets have thinner brittle lithospheres that may be comparable to the Venus lowlands. But certain combinations of these parameters yield worlds with exceedingly thin brittle layers. We predict that such bodies have little elevated topography and limited volatile cycling and weathering, which can be tested by future telescopic observations of known extrasolar planets.
Citation
Byrne , P , Foley , B , Violay , M , Heap , M & Mikhail , S 2021 , ' The effects of planetary and stellar parameters on brittle lithospheric thickness ' , Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets , vol. 126 , no. 11 , e2021JE006952 . https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE006952
Publication
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2169-9097Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE006952
Description
P.K.B. acknowledges support from North Carolina State University. Funding for S.M. was provided by NERC standard grant NE/PO12167/1 and UK Space Agency Aurora grant ST/T001763/1. M.J.H. thanks the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF) for support.Collections
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