Lecture: Recipes for Making the Earth
Speaker:
Date and Time
19:00 -
Location
Virtual Talk via Zoom
Lecture Description
This lecture will be held virtually via zoom.
The main ingredients usually invoked to make planets are primitive meteorites, the chondrites. Although believed to be broadly representative of the solar disk from which planets grew, there are subtle differences in the compositions of different chondrite groups. An important question has therefore been what quantities of the different chondrites are needed to make the Earth. It transpires that one answer is obtained by considering elemental compositions and another using their isotopic characteristics. I argue that this dilemma is resolved if elemental abundances are modified by vapour loss as a natural consequence of the energetic process of collisional planetary accretion. So overall, a respectable Earth can be made from a starting composition of enstatite chondrite that has been wantonly over-cooked.
Tim Elliott is a Professor at the Bristol University School of Earth Sciences. His research interests focus on the chemical evolution of the Earth. He is interested in planetary formation and differentiation, sampling of the hidden Earth via melts, interaction of the deep and surface reservoirs and how this has influenced the terrestrial environment.
He teaches Geochemistry, Field Skills and Formation/Evolution of the Terrestrial Planets