The Thermo‐Chemical Evolution of Mars With a Strongly Stratified Mantle

Samuel, Henri; Ballmer, Maxim D.; Padovan, Sebastiano; Tosi, Nicola; Rivoldini, Attilio; Plesa, Ana‐Catalina

doi:10.1029/2020je006613

Cited by 33 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…The differentiation of Mars into a primordial crust, mantle, and core is likely the result of early magma ocean crystallization and solidification that could potentially result in compositional stratification of the mantle (69,79). There is, however, no direct evidence for this based on current observations.…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 88%

Seismic detection of the martian core

Stähler

Khan

Banerdt

et al. 2021

Science

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Clues to a planet’s geologic history are contained in its interior structure, particularly its core. We detected reflections of seismic waves from the core-mantle boundary of Mars using InSight seismic data and inverted these together with geodetic data to constrain the radius of the liquid metal core to 1830 ± 40 kilometers. The large core implies a martian mantle mineralogically similar to the terrestrial upper mantle and transition zone but differing from Earth by not having a bridgmanite-dominated lower mantle. We inferred a mean core density of 5.7 to 6.3 grams per cubic centimeter, which requires a substantial complement of light elements dissolved in the iron-nickel core. The seismic core shadow as seen from InSight’s location covers half the surface of Mars, including the majority of potentially active regions—e.g., Tharsis—possibly limiting the number of detectable marsquakes.

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Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 88%

Seismic detection of the martian core

Stähler

Khan

Banerdt

et al. 2021

Science

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225

282

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“…The four stages of the FSE model arise, because an extensive magmatism makes the mantle compositionally stratified at the beginning of the calculated history, and the MMUb feedback stirs the mantle to dissolve the stratified structure later. The model is, therefore, fundamentally different from many of earlier parameterized and three-dimensional models of mantle evolution where the structure of the mantle remains unchanged, mostly homogeneous, throughout its history and the mantle evolves solely by its cooling (Breuer & Spohn, 2003;Fraeman & Korenaga, 2010;Grott et al, 2011;Hauck & Phillips, 2002;Morschhauser et al, 2011;Nimmo & Stevenson, 2000; 19 of 29 Plesa et al, 2015Plesa et al, , 2016Plesa et al, , 2018Samuel et al, 2021;Sandu & Kiefer, 2012;Sekhar & King, 2014). The magmatism predicted from these models is active at the beginning of the evolutionary history and monotonously declines with time, as the mantle is cooled (see Grott et al [2013] for a review).…”

Section: The Structural Evolution Of the Mantlementioning

confidence: 82%

“…In most of the cases calculated below, the initial distribution of ξ b is uniform and ξ b = ξ init ≡ 0.64 is assumed for simplicity because the main purpose of the present numerical experiments is to clarify how the dynamics of magmatism and mantle convection controls mantle evolution. Martian mantle is, however, suggested to have been compositionally stratified at the beginning of its history owing to differentiation by magma ocean and mantle overturn (e.g., Elkins-Tanton et al, 2005;Maurice et al, 2017;Scheinberg et al, 2014), and the influence of this initial mantle stratification on later mantle evolution has been discussed in the literature (Plesa et al, 2014;Samuel et al, 2021;Scheinberg et al, 2014;Tosi et al, 2013). To address this issue, I started calculations from a compositionally stratified mantle in several cases; hinted from Figure 6 of Maurice et al (2017), I assumed the initial compositional distribution of…”

Section: Notementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various numerical models of mantle evolution have been advanced to understand the history of Mars. Many studies that are based on parameterized models of mantle convection have focused on clarifying the thermal history of Mars' interior and have suggested that the magnetic field, magmatism, and clement surface environment declined with time owing to cooling of the interior (Breuer & Spohn, 2003; Fraeman & Korenaga, 2010; Grott et al., 2011; Hauck & Phillips, 2002; Morschhauser et al., 2011; Nimmo & Stevenson, 2000; Samuel et al., 2021; Sandu & Kiefer, 2012). This view is maintained in two‐dimensional annular models and three‐dimensional spherical models of mantle convection, too (Plesa et al., 2015, 2016, 2018; Ruedas et al., 2013a, 2013b; Sekhar & King, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Four‐Stage Evolution of Martian Mantle Inferred From Numerical Simulation of the Magmatism‐Mantle Upwelling Feedback

Ogawa

2021

JGR Planets

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“…More recent thermal evolution models have directly addressed the seismic observations of InSight. These models investigated the effects of crustal thickness and its enrichment in HPEs on the thermal evolution and present-day partial melt distribution in the interior of Mars (Knapmeyer-Endrun et al, 2021), studied the consequences of a molten layer at the base of the mantle on the thermal history and core size measurements (Samuel et al, 2021), and estimated seismic velocities variations due to the interior temperature distribution (Plesa et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interior Dynamics and Thermal Evolution of Mars -- a Geodynamic Perspective

Plesa¹,

Wieczorek²,

Knapmeyer³

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Over the past decades, global geodynamical models have been used to investigate the thermal evolution of terrestrial planets. With the increase of computational power and improvement of numerical techniques, these models have become more complex, and simulations are now able to use a high resolution 3D spherical shell geometry and to account for strongly varying viscosity, as appropriate for mantle materials. In this study we review global 3D geodynamic models that have been used to study the thermal evolution and interior dynamics of Mars. We discuss how these models can be combined with local and global observations to constrain the planet's thermal history. In particular, we use the recent InSight estimates of the crustal thickness, upper mantle structure, and core size to show how these constraints can be combined with 3D geodynamic models to improve our understanding of the interior dynamics, present-day thermal state and temperature variations in the interior of Mars. Our results show that the crustal thickness variations control the surface heat flow and the elastic thickness pattern, as well as the location of melting zones in the present-day martian mantle. The lithospheric temperature and the seismic velocities pattern in the shallow mantle reflect the crustal thickness pattern. The large size of the martian core leads to a smaller scale convection pattern in the mantle than previously suggested. Strong mantle plumes that produce melt up to recent times become focused in Tharsis and Elysium, while weaker plumes are distributed throughout the mantle. The thickness of the seismogenic layer, where seismic events can occur, can be used to discriminate between geodynamic models, if the source depth and location of seismic events is known. Furthermore model predictions of present-day martian seismicity can be compared to the values measured by InSight. Future models need to consider recent estimates from the presentday elastic lithosphere thickness at the north pole of Mars, the effects of lateral variations of seismic velocities on waves propagation through the mantle and lithosphere, and to test the spatial distribution of seismicity by comparing model predictions to observations.

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The Thermo‐Chemical Evolution of Mars With a Strongly Stratified Mantle

Abstract: The present-day structure of Mars and other terrestrial planets results from billions of years of thermo-chemical evolution. It is known from geodetic data (gravity field, precession, and tides) that Mars is a differentiated planet with a liquid core (

Cited by 33 publications

References 107 publications

Seismic detection of the martian core

Seismic detection of the martian core

The Four‐Stage Evolution of Martian Mantle Inferred From Numerical Simulation of the Magmatism‐Mantle Upwelling Feedback

Interior Dynamics and Thermal Evolution of Mars -- a Geodynamic Perspective

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