Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Geochemistry

Evaporating planetesimals

Two studies show that evaporation of molten rock was intrinsic to the formation of Earth and other rocky bodies in the Solar System, suggesting that violent collisions played a key part in the formation process. See Letters p.507 & p.511

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Evaporation of colliding planetesimals.

Nik Spencer/Nature; Asteroid Image: NASA/Jpl-Caltech

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. McDonough, W. F. & Sun, S. Chem. Geol. 120, 223–253 (1995).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Allègre, C., Manhès, G. & Lewin, E. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 185, 49–69 (2001).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Young, E. D. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 183, 321–333 (2000).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Day, J. M. D. & Moynier, F. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 372, 20130259 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Hin, R. C. et al. Nature 549, 511–515 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Norris, C. A. & Wood, B. J. Nature 549, 507–510 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Davis, A. M., Hashimoto, A., Clayton, R. N. & Mayeda, T. K. Nature 347, 655–658 (1990).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Young, E. D., Tonui, E., Manning, C. E., Schauble, E. & Macris, C. A. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 288, 524–533 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Pringle, E. A., Moynier, F., Savage, P. S., Badro, J. & Barrat, J.-A. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 17029–17032 (2014).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Sossi, P. A., Nebel, O., Anand, M. & Poitrasson, F. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 449, 360–371 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Polyakov, V. B. Science 323, 912–914 (2009).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Georg, R. B., Halliday, A. N., Schauble, E. A. & Reynolds, B. C. Nature 447, 1102–1106 (2007).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Shahar, A. et al. Science 352, 580–582 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Palme, H. & O'Neil, H. St. C. in Treatise on Geochemistry 2nd edn, Vol. 3 (eds Holland, H. D. & Turekian, K. K.) 1–39 (Elsevier, 2014).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  15. Pecaut, M. J. & Mamajek, E. E. Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 461, 794–815 (2016).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Lock, S. J. & Stewart, S. T. J. Geophys. Res. Planets 122, 950–982 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. Poitrasson, F., Halliday, A. N., Lee, D.-C., Levasseur, S. & Teutsch, N. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 223, 253–266 (2004).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Edward D. Young.

Related links

Related links

Related links in Nature Research

Planetary science: Earth's building blocks

Earth science: Extraordinary world

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Young, E. Evaporating planetesimals. Nature 549, 461–462 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/549461a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/549461a

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing