An international team of researchers proposes a new approach to understanding the processes of cooling and heat transfer from the interior of terrestrial planets and the influence of this transfer on the formation of terrain types of volcanic origin that dominate the surfaces of terrestrial planets. Based on the modern dynamics of Jupiter's moon Io, heated by tidal forces acting from the giant planet, scientists have suggested that the geological history of all terrestrial celestial bodies in the solar system, namely Mercury, Venus, the Moon and Mars, flows in accordance with the mechanism evolution of the planets, including the so-called "heat pipes" (heat-pipes).
Scientists led by William B. Moore of Hampton University, USA, believe that heat pipe cooling was one of the evolutionary stages of all terrestrial planets, including the early Earth, and represents a transition from the magma ocean phase to the phase of a solid crust or plate tectonics. Heat pipes are channels that transfer heat from the bowels of the planet to its surface, as incandescent magma moves from the bottom up through these channels. Eruptions that occur when magma reaches the surface lead to a global renewal of the surface of a celestial body, as a result of which older layers of volcanic material gradually sink down, forming a thick, cold and mechanically durable lithosphere.
In their work, the authors describe in detail how the geological history of each of the above terrestrial bodies in the solar system can be consistent with this new hypothesis of the formation of terrestrial planets and conclude that the proposed version is in good agreement with the geological histories of terrestrial bodies in the solar system, and also note that this hypothesis can also be applied to the study of the origin of rocky exoplanets.
The work was published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.