Inner planets articles within Nature Geoscience

Featured

  • Article |

    Rocky planets dominated by intrusive magmatism can cool more efficiently than those dominated by extrusive volcanism, according to numerical simulations of mantle convection.

    • Diogo L. Lourenço
    • , Antoine B. Rozel
    •  & Paul J. Tackley

  • Editorial |

    Whether the climate of early Mars was warm and wet or cold and dry remains unclear, but the debate is overheated. With a growing toolbox and increasing data to tackle the open questions, progress is possible if there is openness to bridging the divide.

  • News & Views |

    Advances in high-precision isotopic analysis have provided key constraints on the origin and early evolution of the Earth and Moon. Measurements of the isotopes of tungsten provide the most stringent constraints on this history.

    • Kaveh Pahlevan

  • Perspective |

    Ancient hydrothermal deposits formed in the Martian subsurface may be the best targets for finding evidence for ancient life on Mars, and clues about the origin of life on Earth.

    • Joseph R. Michalski
    • , Tullis C. Onstott
    •  & Sarah Stewart Johnson

  • Comment |

    Making sense of exoplanet observations requires better understanding of terrestrial atmospheres in our solar system, especially for Venus. We need to not just intermittently explore, but continuously monitor these atmospheres — like we do for Earth.

    • Kevin McGouldrick

  • News & Views |

    The release of methane trapped in Martian subsurface reservoirs following planetary obliquity shifts may have contributed to episodic climate warming between 3.6 and 3 billion years ago, explaining evidence for ancient ice-covered lakes.

    • Alberto G. Fairén

  • News & Views |

    A fast equatorial jet in the Venusian cloud layer has been revealed by the Akatsuki orbiter by tracking cloud movement in near-infrared images. The findings suggest that the Venusian atmosphere is more variable than previously thought.

    • Alain Hauchecorne

  • Article |

    Venus is covered by thick clouds that move with the prevailing winds. Images from JAXA’s Akatsuki orbiter taken in July 2016 reveal more variability deep in the cloud layer than expected, including a feature consistent with an equatorial jet.

    • Takeshi Horinouchi
    • , Shin-ya Murakami
    •  & Eliot F. Young

  • Article |

    The Martian atmosphere hosts water-ice clouds, but it is thought that any snow precipitation settles slowly, rather than in storms. Martian meteorology simulations suggest that localized convective snowstorms can occur on Mars during the night.

    • Aymeric Spiga
    • , David P. Hinson
    •  & Franck Montmessin

  • Article |

    Ancient Mars may have had an active sulfur cycle. In situ analyses by the Curiosity rover reveal large variations in the current sulfur isotopic composition of Martian sediments that can be explained by geologic and atmospheric processes.

    • H. B. Franz
    • , A. C. McAdam
    •  & B. Sutter

  • Article |

    Collisions of dust particles with a planet’s atmosphere lead to the accumulation of metallic atoms at high altitudes. MAVEN spacecraft observations reveal a persistent—but temporally variable—metal layer of Mg+ ions in the Martian atmosphere.

    • M. M. J. Crismani
    • , N. M. Schneider
    •  & B. M. Jakosky

  • Article |

    The timing and number of large impact basins on early Mars are poorly constrained. Gravity and topographic analyses support a lull in basin-forming impacts following the main stage of accretion.

    • William F. Bottke
    •  & Jeffrey C. Andrews-Hanna

  • News & Views |

    Unlike Earth, Venus lacks discrete, moving plates. Analogue model experiments suggest that observed hints at plate recycling do indeed indicate current, localized destruction of the Venusian surface.

    • Fabio Crameri

  • News & Views |

    Variability of iron isotopes among planetary bodies may reflect their accretion or differentiation histories. Experiments suggest nickel may be the ingredient controlling iron isotope signatures, supporting fractionation during core formation.

    • Paolo A. Sossi

  • Article |

    The upper atmosphere of Venus rotates much faster than the planet itself. An anomalous stationary structure observed by the Akatsuki mission at the cloud tops of Venus could be an atmospheric gravity wave induced by mountain topography below.

    • Tetsuya Fukuhara
    • , Masahiko Futaguchi
    •  & Atsushi Yamazaki

  • News & Views |

    The twin isotopic signatures of the Moon and Earth are difficult to explain by a single giant impact. Impact simulations suggest that making the Moon by a combination of multiple, smaller moonlet-forming impacts may work better.

    • Gareth S. Collins

  • Article |

    A giant impact has been proposed as being responsible for forming the Moon, but scenarios that match existing constraints are improbable. Numerical modelling now suggests that instead a series of smaller and more common impacts can explain the Earth–Moon system.

    • Raluca Rufu
    • , Oded Aharonson
    •  & Hagai B. Perets

  • Letter |

    The planet Mercury has contracted over its history. The identification of small thrust fault scarps suggests the occurrence of tectonic activity on Mercury within the past 50 million years and thus a slow-cooling planetary interior.

    • Thomas R. Watters
    • , Katie Daud
    •  & Carolyn M. Ernst

  • News & Views |

    There is potential evidence for a stratified layer at the top of the Earth's core, but its origin is not well understood. Laboratory experiments suggest that the stratified layer could be a sunken remnant of the giant impact that formed the Moon.

    • Miki Nakajima

  • Letter |

    The Earth’s outermost core is thought to be stratified. Turbulent mixing experiments suggest that merging between the cores of projectile and planet following the Moon-forming giant impact could have produced the stratification.

    • Maylis Landeau
    • , Peter Olson
    •  & Benjamin H. Hirsh

  • Letter |

    The Moon has a tenuous exosphere and dust-sized particles have been detected. Analysis of spectral observations by the LADEE spacecraft suggests that the Moon also has a spatially and temporally variable exosphere of nanodust particles.

    • D. H. Wooden
    • , A. M. Cook
    •  & M. Shirley

  • News & Views |

    The two small satellites of Mars are thought to have accreted from a debris disk formed in a giant impact. Simulations suggest the moons were shepherded into formation by the dynamical influence of one or more short-lived massive inner moons.

    • Erik Asphaug

  • News & Views |

    Liquid water on Mars may be an agent of surface change, but it is unstable under the thin atmosphere. Experiments suggest water percolating though Martian hillslopes ejects sediment as it boils under the low pressure, and modifies the landscape.

    • Wouter A. Marra

  • Letter |

    Mercury appears darker globally than expected. Remote sensing evidence from the MESSENGER spacecraft indicates that the planet’s darkening agent is carbon and suggests that it originates from an ancient graphite-rich crust.

    • Patrick N. Peplowski
    • , Rachel L. Klima
    •  & Sean C. Solomon

  • News & Views |

    Martian gullies have been seen as evidence for past surface water runoff. However, numerical modelling now suggests that accumulation and sublimation of carbon dioxide ice, rather than overland flow of liquid water, may be driving modern gully formation.

    • Colin Dundas

  • Article |

    Gullies on Mars have been linked to possible flowing water, but are most active when seasonal CO2 ice is defrosting. Numerical modelling suggests that CO2 ice sublimation can induce debris flows consistent with observations of martian gullies.

    • C. Pilorget
    •  & F. Forget

  • Perspective |

    The moon Phobos will eventually either disintegrate to form a ring or crash into Mars. Observational constraints and geotechnical considerations suggest that Phobos will partially break apart into a ring, with stronger fragments impacting Mars.

    • Benjamin A. Black
    •  & Tushar Mittal

  • News & Views |

    Compared to Earth, the Moon is depleted in volatile species like water, sodium and potassium. Simulations suggest that much of the Moon formed from hot, volatile-poor melt in a disk of debris after initially amassing cooler, volatile-rich melt.

    • Steve Desch

  • Letter |

    Transient streaks that appear seasonally on Martian slopes are consistent with brine flows, but evidence of water or salts has been lacking. Analysis of spectral data reveals hydrated salts associated with the streaks, confirming a briny origin.

    • Lujendra Ojha
    • , Mary Beth Wilhelm
    •  & Matt Chojnacki

  • News & Views |

    The Moon was once thought to be depleted in volatile elements. Analyses of the carbon contents of lunar volcanic glasses reveal that carbon monoxide degassing could have produced the fire-fountain eruptions from which these glasses were formed.

    • Bruno Scaillet

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