Planetary Science Seminar - winter-2019
Europa's Compressive Past: Investigating the Formation of Ridged Plains with Geologic Mapping and Physical Analogue Modeling
Jan. 18, 2019
noon - 1 p.m.
3853 Slichter
Presented By:
- Erin Leonard - UCLA
Subscribe to Calendar
Seminar Description coming soon.
Late accretion and the Origin of Life on Earth
Jan. 30, 2019
11 a.m. - noon
Slichter 3853
Presented By:
- Ramon Brasser - Earth Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology
Subscribe to Calendar
After their formation from primary accretion the terrestrial planets were pounded by planetesimals that were left behind from planet formation. This intense bombardment is called 'late accretion'. Based on the high abundance of highly siderophile elements in the mantles of Earth and Mars in approximately chondritic proportion, it has beensuggested that these two planets added a further 0.7 wt% of mass in the form of late accretion. The Moon, on the other hand, suffered almost no late accretion. Here I examine the intensity and timeline of late accretion to the terrestrial planets. I show that both Earth and Mars have been struck by large objects about 4.48 billion years ago. Such impacts generated a temporary hydrogen atmosphere which may have been conducive to triggering the origins of life on Earth.
Fifty years of scientific gems from Allende
Feb. 8, 2019
noon - 1 p.m.
3853 Slichter
Presented By:
- Kevin McKeegan - UCLA
- Ming-Chang Liu - UCLA
- Kaitlyn McCain - UCLA
- Alan Rubin - UCLA
- John Wasson - UCLA
- Ed Young - UCLA
Subscribe to Calendar
In the early morning hours of February 8, 1969, a brilliant fireball illuminated the countryside surrounding the Pueblito de Allende in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. An explosion scattered thousands of fusion crusted fragments of a rare meteorite type - a carbonaceous chondrite. Join us for a celebration of this remarkable event and some brief scientific vignettes regarding discoveries enabled by laboratory studies of this uniquely important messenger from the early solar system.
Understanding Planetary Core Convection via Magnetoconvection in Liquid Gallium
Feb. 15, 2019
noon - 1 p.m.
Slichter 3853
Presented By:
- Yufan Xu - UCLA
Subscribe to Calendar
Seminar Description coming soon.
Tyler Powell (UCLA) Lunar cold spots: understanding impact crater distal ejecta from thermophysical properties
Feb. 22, 2019
noon - 1 p.m.
3853 Slichter
Presented By:
- Tyler Powell - UCLA
Subscribe to Calendar
Seminar Description coming soon.
Samuel Howell (JPL) Probing Europa: Exploration of a dynamic ocean world
March 1, 2019
noon - 1 p.m.
3853 Slichter
Presented By:
- Samuel Howell - JPL
Subscribe to Calendar
Europa, a Galilean moon of Jupiter, is a geologically active and potentially habitable ocean world. Europa contains a global saltwater ocean twenty times deeper than Earth’s, protected from the space environment by an outer ice shell tens of kilometers thick, and has been in contact with a rocky seafloor for potentially billions of years. In this talk I will discuss cutting-edge research into Europa's ice shell, as well as potential robotic exploration missions to Europa, including NASA’s planned Europa Clipper mission and potential avenues for future landed exploration and ocean access.